Both sides of the veil; a personal experience

ISrH SIDES <f7/?e

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-^ -■?*

ANNE MANNING ROBBI

IN

GIFT OF

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LIBRARY

BOTH SIDES OF THE
VEIL

3 ^personal experience

BY

ANNE MANNING ROBBINS

BOSTON

SHERMAN, FRENCH & COMPANY

I909

Copyright, 1909
Sherman, French &* Company g

EDUC.

PSYCH.

LIBRARY

Printed in U. S. A.

TO

AUGUSTUS PEARL MARTIN
whose life on earth exemplified to the
author, during an association of eight
short years, many noble and beautiful
qualities of soul, and whose seeming
continued existence on the other slde
of the Veil has inspired new faith
in the reality of that Other Life,
this book is reverently
dedicated

The following letter from Professor William
James was addressed to the publishers:

The manuscript which this accompanies, and
which I recommend hereby to your attention, is
from a companion of mine in psychical research,
who, from a state of doubt, has won through to
a faith in human survival in a spiritual order
which continues the visible order. It is a gen-
uine record of moral and religious experience,
profoundly earnest, and calculated, I should
think, to interest and impress readers who desire
to know adequately what deeper significances our
life may hold in store.

Truly yours,

William James

All names and initials used in this
book are genuine. In every instance
deemed advisable the necessary permis-
sion has been obtained.

CONTENTS

PAGE

Introduction vii

PART I
Personal Experience and Growth of Faith

I. Preliminary 15

II. Mount Holyoke and Loss of a

Creed 17

III. Means of Livelihood 25

IV. Early Acquaintance with Mrs.

Piper 31

V. Richard Hodgson and Psychical Re-
search 38

VI. Association with A. P. Martin . . 48

VII. Apparent Failure of Prediction . 56

VIII. Fulfilment 67

IX. Faith 80

PART II

Communications from the Other Side of the
Veil through Mrs. Piper

X. Prefatory Explanations . . . .91
XI. Extracts from Reports of Sittings . 100

COxNTENTS

PART III

Suggestive Thoughts on the Attainment of
Spirituality

PAGE

Self-Discipline 217

Happiness 229

Various Intimations 239

Love 255

INTRODUCTION

F. W. H. Myers says: "We receive life
and knowledge, which it is our business to
develop into Love and Wisdom and Joy." 1

William James says: " The whole subject
of immortal life has its prime roots in personal
feeling. . . . There are individuals with
a real passion for the matter, men and women
for whom a life hereafter is a pungent craving,
and the thought of it an obsession; and in
whom keenness of interest has bred an insight
into the relations of the subject that no one
less penetrated with the mystery of it can at-
tain. Some of these people are known to me.
They are not official personages; they do not
speak as the scribes, but as having direct
authority. And surely, if anywhere a prophet
clad in goatskins, and not a uniformed official,
should be called to give inspiration, assurance,
and instruction, it would seem to be here, on
such a theme." 2

The business of life as concisely stated by
Myers I have been and still am endeavoring to
carry on, and I find it a business which I shall
wish to pursue to the day of my death, and
quite possibly thereafter. I offer both quota-

1 Human Personality and its Survival of Bodily Death.
Vol. II, p. 310.

2 Human Immortality, pp. 3, 4.

vii

viii BOTH SIDES OF THE VEIL

tions as justification, if justification be needed,
for the publication of the present volume.
My real authority, however, must be, not what
others have thought and said, with all due re-
spect for the writers quoted, and with grati-
tude for the expression of the ages inextricably
woven into the literature of our own genera-
tion; but the authority of deep conviction, of
actual experience, of ever-widening vision, of
increasing happiness, of growing power, and
the belief that these things are for all who will
seek.

There is nothing more patent to the observer
and the thinker than the differences in capacity
with which men are born. Let that fact be ex-
plained as it may, or not explained at all, it
has always seemed to me unreasonable to com-
plain of the condition in which one finds one's
self when awakening to consciousness in early
life; for whoever will make use of his God-
given faculties, whether he be a savage of the
lowest type or an Eastern sage, whether he
occupy a plane but little removed from the
animal or have back of him ages of inherited
thought, may make that degree of progress in
his life between birth and the grave which
shall be to him a satisfaction, which shall
bring to him the good which he craves. To
this end it is not necessary to understand the
whole scheme of creation, or to be able to say
positively that such and such things are so,

INTRODUCTION ix

but what seems to be true to a person who
clarifies his brain and purifies his heart, and
then looks and listens, is generally a safe
guide for that person. In fact, it is often
the person who appears to the casual
observer to have no religion at all, because it
cannot be expressed by or comprised in any
creed or dogma, who is most likely to have a
religion of his own, sincere, deep, vital and
soul-saving. By many a system of philosophy
and through many a religious creed the human
soul has continued its search after self-knowl-
edge and God knowledge, yet each one in his
own generation must begin as a little child to
find out for himself the relation between him-
self and his Maker, must make the knowledge
his individual possession, as if no one had ever
lived and talked before.

It does not appear that one is pushed on to
acquire knowledge, pushed on to master the
lessons of life, pushed on to reap the profit of
his experience, against his will, but from the
moment that the desire makes itself felt in the
soul, from that moment opportunities come.
It is quite plain that opportunities come to him
who deserves them, to him who is ready for
them, to him who is able to seize them. And
what is opportunity, and what do we mean by
the word? Analyzed, it means the appearance
before our eyes of an opening in the black wall
of fate about us, through which we may ex-

>/

x BOTH SIDES OF THE VEIL

press ourselves, our talents, our souls in some
larger way than we have hitherto done. But,
the soul is its own teacher. It is not necessary
for it to be here or there in order that it may
learn. It may acquire knowledge wherever
it chances to be, by revolving in the mind what-
ever is suggested by its particular environ-
ment, or whatever wells up from within.

Unforeseen events seem to determine for us
a course in life which proves in the end far
better than anything we could possibly have
planned, had the choice been absolutely in our
owm hands. While we are free to do as we
wish within certain limits, there are boundaries
beyond which we cannot go. This shaping of
events points to Eternal Law, to Divine Guid-
ance, to an Over-ruling Providence, which while
great enough to control the stars in their
orbits also enters each individual life.

I disclaim the slightest pretence to science,
yet I understand that any one who observes
facts carefully and records them truthfully,
whether those facts be in the physical, mental
or spiritual realm of being, is adding his mite
to the accumulations of science.

I have no scheme of philosophy to offer, but
only such bits of philosophic thought as have
filtered through my own brain and shown
themselves effective for good in my own life.

I wrish to record here only the thoughts
and experiences which are and have become my

INTRODUCTION xi

own. Whatever the origin of the thoughts,
whether forced out of me by the intensity of
misery, or dropped into my heart by an angel,
they now belong to me. It is as if I had
found myself drowning; as if absolutely noth-
ing which I could grasp were within sight or
within reach; as if, realizing my danger, I had,
as the only means of saving myself, suddenly
disappeared from the material and become
pure ether; thus finding myself able through
the inherent power of my own nature to rise
out of the blackness of the engulfing waves, to
float above all danger, or to land, as I choose,
on solid ground.

The serious author must deliberate most
carefully before committing to the cold type
that which cannot be unsaid or taken back. I
can only offer the present volume in the spirit
of the greatest humility, yet there is something
within me which is insistent upon expression.
This something within me has been leading me
through varied phases of life, through doubt
and mental darkness, through disappointment
of hopes, through loss of beloved friends, and
lo ! life's pathway has suddenly opened upon a
bright and luminous field. At a little distance
ahead of me in this same bright field there ap-
pears a veil. Written across this veil is the
word " Death," and while the path which I
descry in advance grows more beautiful as it
approaches that veil, beyond it the brightness

xii BOTH SIDES OF THE VEIL

is yet more dazzling, so that with the light on
this side and the still greater light on that, the
veil itself is almost transparent.

From childhood in a country town where
the orthodox church gathered within its fold
all young eager spirits like my own, engrafting
upon them its creed and dedicating them to its
service, to a present freedom of soul which for
itself fits all things into the scheme of the ever-
lasting goodness of God, which looks with
admiration, wonder and reverence, but no fear,
upon the mysteries of the Universe, which
realizes the presence, the sympathy and the
helpfulness of friends called dead, which re-
sponds to the invisible life palpitating all about
and receives energy therefrom, of this pathway
and this transition I would speak.

It may be said that this is the philosophy of
self-development merely, and that all such
philosophy is as old as the hills. So be it. I
will utter my little word too. If to the
psychologist my logic seem crude, and to the
litterateur my language inadequate, my ut-
terance will not have been in vain if haply its
message meet the need of some human heart.

PART I

PERSONAL EXPERIENCE AND
GROWTH OF FAITH

I

PRELIMINARY

Since the early spring of 1 88 I to the time of
publication I have resided in the city of Bos-
ton. My interest in Spiritism and what is
known as " Psychical Research " dates from
about that time. My opportunities have been
unusual and my experience unique in some re-
spects, and for that reason I feel that I ought
not to withhold the experience from those who
are seekers in the same field with myself, or
from others in whom it may awaken an inter-
est. I heartily wish that I might give my
message dissociated from myself. Consider-
ing, however, the peculiar nature of my sub-
ject, I find that my personality must be wholly
sacrificed to the object for which I write. My
search after spiritual truth and the material
circumstances of my life have been so closely
interwoven that I cannot speak of the former
without touching upon the latter. In fact, it
is the close association and interdependence of
the material and the spiritual which I wish to
make prominent in this brief narrative, and
were it not for that relation I should not as-
sume that the outward affairs of an ordinary
routine life could have the slightest interest for
any one.

15

:6 BOTH SIDES OF THE VEIL

In order to make clear the different phases in
the development of my faith I shall be obliged
to go back a few years previous to 1881 and
*r>eak briefly of my early religious experience.

II

MOUNT HOLYOKE AND LOSS OF A
CREED

When I was sixteen years old I left home
for the first time, and entered Mount Holyoke
Seminary, now Mount Holyoke College.
Homesick girls of sixteen, surrounded by
strangers and awed by superiors, are doubtless
extremely impressionable. Some aged divine
from Boston was holding religious meetings at
the seminary. It was impressed upon me
very strongly that I ought to " be converted,"
but how to become converted puzzled my
brain and my heart. I knew that is was neces-
sary to feel a conviction of sin and contrition
therefor, but try as best I might I was not
able to realize the enormity of sin that I was
supposed to have committed during the short
sixteen-years of my childhood. However, one
evening I was wrought up to the point of ven-
turing upon a personal encounter with this min-
isterial personage, in a private room which
seems to have been used as a sort of confes-
sional. It had the desired effect and I " be-
came converted."

This man told me that God had been giving
me good things all my life, and he asked me
what I had done for God, implying that I

17

1 8 BOTH SIDES OF THE VEIL

had done absolutely nothing and that at best I
was a most ungrateful creature. This argu-
ment appealed to my sense of justice, for upon
reflection I could not pick out any special thing
that I had done for God, and of course justice
required that I should do something in return
for all that He had done for me. It gave me
a working basis, and I resolved that from that
moment I would " do something " for God,
though just what assistance the Mighty Creator
wanted of such a babe was not quite clear in
my mind. However, I was swept along on a
wave of enthusiasm and found myself very
happy. I was happy in praying for my be-
nighted relatives who had not been through a
similar experience, and I went to my bed at
night with songs of joy on my lips and in my
heart. My youth, my love of study and my
opportunities may have had something to do
with this happiness and possibly would have
been sufficient to account for it even though the
word " religion " had not been pronounced in
my hearing. I believe there was, however, a
new sense of being on the right track, of con-
scientiously endeavoring to do right, of being
in harmonious relation with the Power that I
conceived as God. The great life-and-death
struggle of maturer years, the desperate effort
of the floundering soul to save itself, was yet
to come. This period at the age of sixteen I
count as one of the happiest in my life. But

THE LOSS OF A CREED 19

the religion which I then professed did not
make me over. It did not remove the timidity
from my nature or blot out of existence certain
other temperamental and possibly inherited
traits which were then beginning to torment
me. This required analytical thought and
brave effort. Nor on the other hand did it
quench a certain fearlessness of spirit which
seems to have been born in me side by side with
the timidity, and for which saving grace in my
make-up I have always been profoundly grate-
ful.

During my senior year at this school Bible
study was an important part of the curriculum
and it required considerable time each week to
master the lessons which were recited on Sun-
days. One Sunday the presiding teacher asked
for the meaning of the words " being covered
with the righteousness of Christ." No one in
the large class offered an answer until I at-
tempted one by expressing the idea that because
we have no righteousness of our own we must
be covered, hidden as it were, by that of
Christ, in order to be saved. If I had said
that we must attempt to make for ourselves a
garment pure and righteous like that of Christ,
I never should have regretted my words, but
what I did say I have regretted many times
and wished that I might have an opportunity
to unsay. For the idea then in my mind was
that of Christ standing garbed in ample white

20 BOTH SIDES OF THE VEIL

robe, so full that it could spread out like
wings, completely hiding from the view of a
wrathful God poor creatures like ourselves,
garmentless or clothed in rags. My reply ap-
peared to give satisfaction. To-day I see not
only ignorance but cowardice in my words.
To-day I believe not only that we may have
righteousness of our own, but that not until we
do have such righteousness can we or shall we
be saved. Being righteous is salvation. As
Christ set us the example, so must we follow,
and as He was righteous, so must we be accord-
ing to our light and our power.

At Mount Holyoke the discipline of the
routine which demands of every one her best is
an invaluable factor in the development of
character. I shall never forget the impres-
sion made upon me by the teachers of my day
through their spirit of consecration and lofty
devotion to their chosen work. And I believe
the same powerful influence is exerted there to-
day. They grow accustomed to their work,
they forget themselves, and they little realize
the effect which the developed beauty of their
lives makes upon the sensitive girl from the
country away from home for the first time in
her life, for the first time brought into contact
with her peers and superiors.

The religious teaching of those years, —
why speak of it? Let them praise it or criti-
cise it who will. The true inwardness of it

THE LOSS OF A CREED 21

made it worthy, left its impress upon the pupil
and gradually cast into the shadow of incon-
sequcntiality all outward observance. To the
freed mind the extreme exactions of conscien-
tious, orthodox Christianity, fearful lest it
shall not do right, seem puerile. Yet through
all these different forms of religion one sees the
self-same effort of the soul, the effort to com-
prehend its true place in the Cosmos and to
rind its true relation to God.

It does not seem to me necessary for a per-
son to be told in the freshness of his youth,
when he knows almost nothing about sin from
any experience of his own, that a gulf lies be-
tween himself and God, that God has cast him
out from His presence, that only in meek de-
pendence upon the saving grace of another's
virtue and the sacrifice of another's life may he
be reinstated in the Divine favor. Is it not
better to present to the young mind the beauty
of goodness, the delight of conforming to right-
eous laws as the natural way of living? If a
Christ had within him a saving grace and a
righteous power, it is enough to hold up His
life as an ideal, and better for the youth to fol-
low that ideal of his own accord because it is
shown to him to be altogether lovely, and not
because he must fear dire punishment if he does
not. Yet the thinker — and everyone may
think — is bound to come out at last into
spiritual freedom through any and every path.

22 BOTH SIDES OF THE VEIL

The instructors in this particular college
who were there in my day will always be re-
membered by me as among the loveliest, lofti-
est, noblest characters it has ever been my good
fortune to know. They set before their pupils
the saving truth by its daily exemplification.
Though there may have been grades among
them, I make no exception, for at the institu-
tion founded by Mary Lyon no one is ever
called to the sacred work of teaching who has
not already shown herself to be a consecrated
soul.

Yet when I returned to my home I saw that
my father, who was a close student of nature
but passed for a skeptic in matters of religion,
however much I might pray for him could no
more change his nature than the leopard could
change his skin. I felt there must be some-
thing wrong with my belief. I was asking
God for that which was contrary to laws of
His own making. My reason showed me that
facts are unalterable, that the unalterableness
of things is what makes them facts. My be-
lief was a changeable thing; my belief must ac-
commodate itself to facts, for facts would
never adjust themselves to it.

And my oldest sister was a lovely person.
She was lovely to look at, kind and gentle
in her actions ; her sweet voice and her musical
talent made beautiful music in the home; she
was a second mother to us all. Why, then,

THE LOSS OF A CREED 23

should I wish to change her nature? Her na-
ture was in my opinion quite adorable. Yet
she somehow seemed to lack a religious creed
of which I could approve. She believed if we
do well here we shall do well hereafter, but
she had no elaborate scheme of salvation
such as had been drilled into me; an angry
God, an incarnation, a sacrifice, an atonement,
and the hiding behind His garments. Again
my philosophy must somehow be changed so
as to include this motherly girl, for I could not
possibly believe that a good God would con-
demn her. This beloved sister passed out of
the body in 1SS1.

My mother always has been and is to-day
in her extreme old age devoted to her church
and her creed, yet her charity has been of the
broadest kind and she was never coercive in
matters of religion. Blessed be mothers like
mine.

In a very short time after leaving college I
felt my religious creed slipping from me. I
could not hold it. It did not satisfy my re-
quirements. As is usual, I believe, with
devotees who cut loose from the bonds of their
early faith, I swung to the other extreme and
clung to no dogma at all. For a brief period
I experienced a sort of exultant, reckless joy in
my newly acquired independence. It was de-
lightful to think that I was not bound to ac-
cept as authoritative any religious creed or any

24 BOTH SIDES OF THE VEIL

code of philosophy laid down in any book. I
was, after all, arbiter of my own fate. I could
do as I pleased so long as I did not positively
injure others. I might be a creature that was
to live for all eternity for aught I knew. I
knew nothing about it. But, I reasoned, if this
be so, there is time enough for learning one's
lessons. I shall reach my destination in time
or eternity, and if I dilly-dally a little on the
way it only hinders my own progress and harms
no one else. Was this all? No. There
made itself heard within me a voice which said :
" To refrain from injury to your neighbor is
not enough. You must do no harm to your-
self. You are bound to your fellow creatures.
Any injury to yourself will necessarily be felt by
them. You must preserve inviolate the purity
of your own nature. You must seek knowl-
edge and you must diffuse light."

Yet I was a creature of moods, now happy,
now the reverse, altogether subject to them,
and suffering much from self-condemnation.
I do not, however, claim a monopoly in suffer-
ing, nor do I propose to discuss these uninter-
esting things here, further than to say that as
soon as I found that I need not be slave, but
might be master, of both physical sensation and
mental mood, I began to make some headway,
and I believe it was the reading of Plato that
first gave me an insight into this important
truth.

Ill

MEANS OF LIVELIHOOD

I had a great desire to live in a large city
where I might come in contact with all phases
of life and take advantage of the opportunities
which such a centre affords. After leaving
school I resided a short time in Philadelphia ,
where I practically began the battle of life.
From the time I set foot in Boston, in 1 88 1,
my hands and my mind have been fully occu-
pied, and the gaining of a sufficient livelihood
has been a comparatively easy matter.

I was engaged from the very first in steno-
graphic and clerical work, mostly stenographic.
For a few years I occupied a position in the of-
fice of a commercial firm. From 1885 to
1899 I served as official stenographer in the
office of what was then the Board of Police of
the city of Boston, reporting hearings, confer-
ences, conversations, and during the last five
years of that period acting as private secretary
to the chairman of the board. From 1900 to
1902 I was private secretary to the Water
Commissioner of the city, whose office was at
City Hall. From 1903 to the present time,
1909, I have been engaged in the office of a
Bureau of the Massachusetts State Board of
Agriculture. These several periods stand out

25

26 BOTH SIDES OF THE VEIL

clearly in my own mind, and reference to them
may have to be made in the following chapters.

In addition to this regular occupation I had
other work which occupied much of my spare
time, it being mostly, however, of the same na-
ture as my daily work. In Philadelphia I had
studied a system of shorthand-writing which
was then new, a system which its author claim-
ed was equal to any of the older systems in its
adaptability and yet was much more easily ac-
quired. Soon after reaching Boston I was ask-
ed to teach the system, and from that time on,
for the next ten or twelve years, I had all the
private pupils I could well attend to, teaching
both by correspondence and by personal les-
sons. I was obliged finally to drop this on ac-
count of the increasing pressure of other work.

The civil service law of Massachusetts was
enacted in 1884. The rules went into effect
early in 1885 and were thereafter applied as
rapidly as possible to the various departments
of public service. Henry Sherwin, who has
been Chief Examiner for the civil service
from 1884 to the present day, was just be-
ginning to gather around him a corps of as-
sistants in his special work of examination, a
work which has grown enormously since its in-
itiation. Soon after my own examination I
was appointed one of the examiners, having
been a member of one board continuously from
that time to this, and serving from 1902 to

MEANS OF LIVELIHOOD 27

1907, inclusive, as a member of two other
boards.

As I look back I can see many events which
apparently happened, yet it seems to me now
that nothing really ever happens. That is
our word for something which seems to come
by chance, but which may in reality have been
a long time in preparing. If one has a pur-
pose in life, or a serious intent, the person and
the event are somehow brought together when
the time is ripe for the accomplishment of the
purpose or the furthering of the intent.

For instance, when I began teaching short-
hand my system was not perfected; the author
was making improvements in it, and I did not
feel that I had it sufficiently at my command to
undertake the teaching of it. Yet I was afraid
to let the opportunity slip. I had a dim
notion, even then, of unused organs becoming
atrophied, and of lost opportunities blocking
the appearance of others. I looked at life in
its youth as a narrow stream of water running
between high banks. So long as the stream
does not swell, gains no accretions, it cannot
branch off into other channels or flow out into
meadow lakes. And so I accepted the task, my
pupils agreeing to follow me in any changes
which might be introduced, and the system was
thereafter gradually perfected.

About this time it happened that William
H. Lee, who for many years filled the position

28 BOTH SIDES OF THE VEIL

of Clerk of Committees for the City Govern-
ment, wanted to know something about the new
system of shorthand and engaged me to teach
it to him. It happened, again, that in the
year 1885 the charter of the city of Boston was
amended by the legislature of Massachusetts,
and, among other changes made, the control of
the large police force of the city was taken
from the mayor and city council and put into
the hands of a commission of three, who were
appointed by the Governor of the Common-
wealth, to whom they were answerable for the
proper management of the force. Mr. Lee
was appointed one of the members of this first
Metropolitan Board of Police, serving for nine
years. When he took office, in 1885, he was
broad-minded enough to see that the position
of reporter for the board could, not improper-
ly, be filled by a woman, in which opinion his
fellow-members of the board coincided. At
that time there were comparatively few women
occupying positions as official stenographers or
court reporters, though there are many such to-
day.

There was apparently very little significance
attaching to the question of whether I should
or should not do a little teaching, whether I
wished or did not wish to spend my time in
that way, but if I had not undertaken it at
just the time that I did, I should never have
been drawn into the particular associations, or

MEANS OF LIVELIHOOD 29

into the particular stream of events, the out-
come of which seems to me of sufficient im-
portance and interest to put upon permanent
record and offer to others. That matter re-
mains, however, for the reader to decide for
himself.

My years in the police department were of
the greatest benefit to me, disciplining me in
many ways. The nature of the work required
the concentration of all my powers in order to
accomplish it with any degree of satisfaction to
myself. The humanism of our common life,
in aspects humorous and again interesting even
to pathos, was often brought out in occurrences
which took place before my eyes, and the
camaraderie of my daily associations, deepen-
ing in some instances into the sincerity of
friendship, will long be treasured in my
memory.

Far be it from me to belittle any kind of
work, of any grade whatever, performed in
public or private capacity. The machinery of
government of this great Country must be
kept moving. The greater the skill and liie
intelligence of the thousands of men and
women who stand behind the wheels, the
better the government. And what is govern-
ment for but to serve the people. Serve them
how ? By helping them to live healthy, nor-
mal, peaceful, progressive lives.

Yet all the while there has been with me an

3o BOTH SIDES OF THE VEIL

undercurrent of unrest, a feeling that some one
else might fill my place just as well or better
than I, and a secret wish that I might do some
little work in the course of my life that should
be of a different grade and of more permanent
value.

And why is it of any consequence to speak
here of my work at all? It is simply this:
since I have been trusted by city and state, my
work generally approved and placed on file
among public records, and since I have been
accredited with sanity and a fair degree of in-
telligence, I ask, in all humility, that the same
courtesy and confidence be extended to me
when I offer records of other matters of an en-
tirely different nature from that which is known
as " red tape " of government work.

LEONORA E. PIPER

IN EARLY MARRIED LIFE

IV

EARLY ACQUAINTANCE WITH
MRS. PIPER

1885

It was during the winter of 1884-5 tnat I
became acquainted with Mrs. Leonora E.
Piper, the famous psychic who for so many
years has been generously contributing of her
time and her special gifts to the cause of
spiritual science, under the auspices of the
English Society for Psychical Research. I
was invited one evening with a personal friend
to a family gathering of about a dozen people,
because of my newly awakened interest in phe-
nomena called psychical. Mr. Piper, senior,
was present, as were also Mrs. Piper and her
husband. The personality of Mrs. Piper,
then a young woman, with her sweet, pure,
refined and gentle countenance, attracted me at
once.

The company sat around a large table, and I
think there were one or two sensitives pres-
ent who made some little exhibition of their
powers, but nothing occurred that made any
impression upon me, or that remained in
my memory, outside of what was connected
with Mrs. Piper. During the course of the

3i

32 BOTH SIDES OF THE VEIL

evening she retired with one or two of her
friends to a small room adjoining and opening
into the large room in which the company was
assembled, and, as I understood, " went under
control," whatever that might mean. It was
something new and strange to me. I think she
had not then begun to give sittings outside of
the immediate circle of her own family, but
was in the process of developing her powers.
Her husband explained to me that she
was a little bashful about going into trance
under the eyes of other people, and for that
reason had retired to the smaller room. I
heard the sound as of some one talking in a
low tone issuing from the small room, and as I
remember Mr. Piper told me that the poet
Longfellow was supposed to be speaking
through his wife, and a little later in the even-
ing that " Dr. Phinuit " had arrived.

" Dr. Phinuit " was the name assumed by
the early spirit-control of Mrs. Piper. He
claimed to have been a French physician who
passed out of the body somewhere in the
vicinity of twenty-five years previous to his re-
turning through the organism of Mrs. Piper.
While under the control of Phinuit, Mrs.
Piper rose and walked out into the large room,
and the control addressed a few remarks to the
company in general. I chanced to be standing
near Mrs. Piper with the lady who was my
companion that evening, and Dr. Phinuit

ACQUAINTANCE OF MRS. PIPER 33

[Mrs. P.] put his hand on my shoulder and
said in his emphatic way, addressing us both,
11 You are very harmonious."

This was my introduction to Dr. Phinuit,
dear old Phinuit of those early days, for it
proved in course of time that, in spite of any
and all idiosyncrasies and crudities which this
personality displayed, he succeeded in endear-
ing himself to all those with whom he had
numerous conversations, probably without ex-
ception, some of whom speak, of him to this
day with familiar affection.

I lost no time in making an appointment for
a private interview with Mrs. Piper, to take
place as soon as she might be ready to see me,
and my notebook gives April, 1885, as the date
of my first sitting. This antedates by some
months Professor William James's acquaint-
ance with her, and he is the person who intro-
duced her, in May, 1887, to the man who be-
came the first American Secretary of the Eng-
lish Society for Psychical Research. Up to
the time when Professor James made her ac-
quaintance, in the autumn of 1885, she was not
known as a psychic, nor even as a person who
gave promise of developing psychic gifts, ex-
cept to a small number of friends and acquaint-
ances of her immediate family.

The hour was to me one of extreme fascina-
tion. Was Dr. Phinuit really a discarnate
spirit, temporarily and partially incarnated in

34 BOTH SIDES OF THE VEIL

this woman's body for the purpose of convers-
ing with me? If so, how fortunate was I to
be witness of so mysterious and interesting a
phenomenon, interesting and significant wholly
apart from what was said in the trance. For
let it be remembered that I am not presuming
to discuss the nature of the trance from the
standpoint of psychology. I realize that what
is said while the medium is entranced is to the
psychologist all-important in his interpreta-
tion of the phenomena as such. I wish to
record only observations and impressions, leav-
ing theoretics to the scientist, to whom they
properly belong. And while I may speak of
my impressions as if they conveyed to me facts,
I understand that the scientist must have some-
thing more than impressions before he can
put before the world what he calls scientific
truth.

I found that Dr. Phinuit understood me, —
and who does not flatter himself that he is not
ordinarily understood? He seemed to know
all about my good points and somehow to
have a special knowledge of my failings, and
from that time on he sustained the relation of
adviser and friend. I was altogether too
proud to impart my secrets to even the closest
living acquaintance, yet, confession being good
for the soul, I found myself confessing freely
to Phinuit. But although I may have ap-
peared to those who knew me during this

ACQUAINTANCE OF MRS. PIPER 35

period foolishly eager to get advice from such
a friend, or from any supposed spirit who pro-
fessed to be able to give advice, I laid it down
as a working principle, in the very earliest
days of my investigations, not to follow the
advice of any psychic which was contrary to
the dictates of my own judgment. I do not
consider that any one who has not respect
enough for his own judgment to consult it and
to follow it in the conduct of his material af-
fairs, even though it may conflict at times with
what purports to be advice from spirit friends,
is a fit person to carry on investigations into
psychical phenomena.

I did not have frequent sittings with Mrs.
Piper, but I had a number each year under
the Phinuit regime during a period of ten
years, which extended to September, 1895,
with the exception of one season when Mrs.
Piper was abroad; then there was a break of
several years for various reasons, Mrs. Piper
not being able to give sittings all of this time
on account of ill health, and in December,
1899, I had my first sitting under the latter-
day regime, an account of which will be given
later.

My first sitting, in April, 1885, took place
about three months after the death of a friend
whose acquaintance I had made when living in
Philadelphia, by name Hiram Hart. [In old
reports he is called " H."] Dr. Phinuit ad-

36 BOTH SIDES OF THE VEIL

vised me to wait about eight months longer,
saying that by that time I should probably
hear from this friend. I waited that length
of time, and I did hear from him, as it seemed,
and I witnessed the interesting phenomenon of
the gradual development of a new control, for
in the course of a little time Hiram Hart suc-
ceeded in controlling the organism almost as
well as did Phinuit himself, and during all this
period of ten years he was my special com-
municator, though never, of course, occupy-
ing more than a portion of the time at any
one sitting. [See Proc. S. P. R., Part
XXXIII, pp. 289-290.]

The Phinuit regime is ancient history now
in the Piper case, and I will not dwell on it
here at length. A general account of these
early sittings of mine was given to the S. P.
R. and is included in an article entitled " Ob-
servations of Certain Phenomena of Trance "
in part XXI of the Proceedings, pp. m-114.
But Hiram Hart has shown the persistent fidel-
ity of a returning spirit, and has been, so to
speak, a " friend at court " on the Other Side,
keeping himself modestly in the background
in these latter years because there has not
been time for me to hold much communica-
tion with him, but appearing for brief mo-
ments whenever he could serve my interests
in any way in my other relations, or sending
to me a message of remembrance.

ACQUAINTANCE OF MRS. PIPER 37

It has been my habit, from the very be-
ginning, to make notes of sittings very soon
after they occurred, unless I had taken full
notes during the hour, which has been my in-
variable custom of late years, and I have
notes preserved either in shorthand or tran-
scriptions of nearly every sitting that I ever
had with Mrs. Piper or any other psychic.

Mrs. Piper builded better than she knew
when she elected to reside at Arlington
Heights. The place is one of the loveliest of
Boston's lovely suburbs. For the dweller in
the city like myself, it was most restful to take
a train in the morning at an hour when the
tide of humanity sets toward the city, thus
leaving the suburbs quiet; to ascend to the
top of the " Heights " through an avenue
shaded its entire length by beautiful trees; to
meet Mrs. Piper's serene face; to mount still
higher to an upper chamber, lock the door,
watch the psychic while she seems to lose all
consciousness of my presence, and then be free
to commune with — whom ?

RICHARD HODGSON AND
PSYCHICAL RESEARCH

I find in my notebook a memorandum to the
effect that it was on Feb. 10, 1888, that I
first met Richard Hodgson at the rooms of
the S. P. R. at 5 Boylston place, Boston. He
had come from England early the preceding
year and established himself in the city, act-
ing first as secretary of the old American
Psychical Research Society, which in 1890 be-
came the American Branch of the English
Society, which latter organization he repre-
sented for the next fifteen years. I believe
he was then looking up and interviewing Mrs.
Piper's early sitters and I had a note of in-
troduction to him from Mrs. Piper herself,
but found her at the rooms when I called and
was introduced in person by her. From that
time on during the years I saw him occasion-
ally, not frequently. I communicated with
him oftener than I saw him. I at first offered
service to the Society in the line of reporting,
and assisted Dr. Hodgson at times during the
period of my acquaintance, sometimes gratui-
tously and sometimes being employed by him

38

RICHARD HODGSON

IN HIS KIKTIETH YEAR

PSYCHICAL RESEARCH 39

to make verbatim stenographic reports of sit-
tings, or copy of records already made. I
learned his methods and became familiar with
the technicalities of his system of keeping
records of sittings with notes thereon. Aside
from the Piper work I occasionally had sit-
tings with other psychics with whom he had
not time to carry on investigations, for the pur-
pose of enabling him to answer more intelli-
gently the numerous inquiries that were made
at the rooms of the Society, as to where to
find professionals who could be recommended
as having some psychical powers. I always
took notes and made more or less full reports
to him of such sittings, which went on file
with the S. P. R.

I find that I reported a Piper sitting for
him, which he could not attend and which I
think was one in a series of sittings carried on
by some members of the American Society at
that time in existence, as early as March 6,
1888, and in May and June of the same year
I attended a short series of sittings given by
Mrs. Piper for the express purpose of allow-
ing Dr. Hodgson to find out what he could
in his own way about the Phinuit personality.
[See Proceedings S. P. R., Part XXI, pp. 2-3
and 59.] We three met on successive Satur-
day evenings, Dr. Hodgson giving his time
and his effort, I giving my report, and Mrs.
Piper giving her services. This series was

40 BOTH SIDES OF THE VEIL

interrupted after the fifth sitting, but those
five Saturday evenings were memorable, each
one of three entering upon the undertaking
in the happiest of moods, and each one stand-
ing by his or her part of the agreement. Dr.
Hodgson asked questions and tried various
harmless experiments, or what seemed to him
at that time harmless, such as putting salt on
the psychic's tongue when in trance, for the
purpose or ascertaining whether Phinuit was
conscious of it in the trance or whether Mrs.
Piper was conscious of it on coming out of the
trance. These experiments are not for me to
discuss here. But I will say that about twelve
years later,' in 1900, in some correspondence
with me regarding the transformations that
had taken place in ourselves during those
dozen years, Dr. Hodgson admitted that what
he knew in 1888 about the care with which
the person of the psychic should be guarded
while in trance and the conditions which should
precede a sitting, was mere folly compared
with the knowledge he had then gained by
his experience.

I remember the freshness of his enthusiasm
of those early days, his intense eagerness to
" find out what is on the Other Side of the
Veil." He told me then that he would not
allow himself to follow any profession or be
engaged in any occupation for the mere sake
of making money, that he would pursue only

PSYCHICAL RESEARCH 41

that kind of work in life in which his heart
and his soul could be absorbed, with money
if possible, without it if necessary.

In all probability the very first attempts at
automatic writing by Mrs. Piper occurred in
some of my sittings. [See Proc. S. P. R.,
Part XXXIII, p. 292.] The writing there
referred to as having occurred on May 23,
1 89 1, was the first I had of any length. It
was by the control " Hiram Hart." Distinct
messages were given and I was asked to com-
pare the writing with his own when in life.
I did compare it, being convinced myself of
the appearance in it of more than one old
peculiarity, which I did not think, however,
were sufficiently marked to be clear to others.
Dr. Hodgson also made the comparison as an
expert on handwriting, and would not admit
that there was any similarity worthy of men-
tion between the two styles except in the one
capital letter " H." This he could not deny
was very much like the old style.

I have only recently discovered in Part
XXXIII, Proc. S. P. R., p. 399, a discussion
by Dr. Hodgson of early attempts at writing,
and a footnote which reads as follows :

"Miss R. (p. 292), whose friend was apparently
the first to write at all, using the hand while ' con-
trolling ' the body generally, and also using the hand
while Phinuit was controlling the voice, has shown
me some of this early writing and some writing of

42 BOTH SIDES OF THE VEIL

her friend when living. Some peculiarities were
common to both, but not enough to found an argu-
ment upon as to the identity of the communicator."

Previous to this date, December 8, 1888,
Phinuit wrote my name and his name, and
Hiram Hart wrote his own name. The two
styles of writing were quite dissimilar.

I have three wrords written by the Hart
control at a still earlier date, on July 2, 1888.

All three of these instances antedate the
occurrence of any writing of which I have
ever seen any account. These specimens are
reproduced on the facing page, with the excep-
tion that I have given only one of the three
words mentioned as coming on the very ear-
liest date.

It will be noticed that on Dec. 8, 1888, a
new way of spelling the Christian name
" Hiram " occurs. There was more or less
joking about this afterwards between myself
and the control Hart, the latter insisting upon
it that he really did know how to spell
his own Christian name. I am sure that such
inaccuracies as this, especially in early attempts
at automatic writing, can now be easily ex-
plained by the experienced investigator who is
himself a psychologist; or, rather, I should
say that if they cannot be explained — since
I believe the trance itself is not yet really ex-
plained — they form no hindrance to the ac-
ceptance of the theory, in a general way, that

OTTV

Written by Hiram Hart, July 2, 1888
Written by Hiram Hart, May 23, i8qi

Q

Written by

Dr. Phintit

^ May 23, 1891

Written by Mrs. Piper, May 23, 1891
In her normal state after coming out of trance

Written by Dr. Phintit, Dec. 8, 1

\\ ritten by Dr. Phintit, Dec. 8, 1888

I' Written by Hiram Hart, Dec. 8 1888

PSYCHICAL RESEARCH 43

intelligences on the Other Side are endeavor-
ing to communicate with intelligences on this
side, through an intermediary, by the ordinary
method of handwriting.

In the winter of 1892-3 came the extremely
interesting series of sittings arranged by Dr.
Hodgson for the express purpose of obtaining
further communications from that remarkable
personality, George Pelham, who died in the
preceding February, and made himself known
to some of his friends within a few weeks
after his death. The history of the early G.
P. communications, as they are called, is given
in detail by Dr. Hodgson in Part XXXIII
of the S. P. R. Proceedings, February, 1898,
with which all students of psychical research
are doubtless familiar. The sittings of this
series took place in the evening, when I was
able to attend as reporter. It is needless to
say that all this work was most interesting
and fascinating to me, and I considered myself
specially favored in having opportunity to per-
form it.

In September, 1895, I had my last conver-
sation with the personality known as Dr.
Phinuit, though of course I did not know at
the time that it was to be my last, or I should
have felt that I was taking leave of a dear
faithful friend. There was an interval of
four vears during which I had no sittings.
Mrs. Piper was ill a portion of the time and

44 BUII1 SIDES OF THE VEIL

was not giving sittings, and when she did give
them I was not knowing to all that was going
on in the affairs of the trance. I knew that
it had taken on an entirely new phase, that
the number of sitters had been reduced to z
comparatively small one. I learned later that
strange things had taken place, and that in
the course of the year 1897 Dr. Phinuit was
displaced by other controls, and a new regime
was established. I presumed there was so
much of greater importance of which Dr.
Hodgson had charge, in the conduct of his
work, that my small affairs had been lost sight
of altogether. I feared I had had my last talk
with my old friend Hiram Hart. In fact,
I thought my connection with the Piper work
had come to an end, whereas the truth is that
by far the most important part of it was to
come.

It was in the fall of 1899 tnat I resigned
my position in the police department, and for
a period of about three months I enjoyed a
rest from routine work. Hardly had I found
myself at leisure when Dr. Hodgson asked for
my assistance to make copy of a volume of
records of communications which had been re-
ceived in the course of the two preceding sea-
sons and after the important change in the
mediumship had taken place. Much of this
matter proved to be most fascinating reading
and the volume had for me an absorbing

PSYCHICAL RESEARCH 45

interest. For a few brief weeks just at this
time I was living absolutely alone in a good-
sized apartment, the friend with whom I
shared the apartment being absent temporarily.
If a diary kept during these weeks had re-
corded that I M rose betimes, breakfasted,
copied, lunched, copied, supped, copied, re-
tired," it would not have been far from the
truth. And I went to my bed singing and
slept the sleep of a child. While one world
was entirely, in accordance with my wish, shut
out by the brick walls of my own apartment,
I myself was being introduced to a new and
different world. There were in these records
descriptions of life on the Other Side of the
Veil, supposed to be given by one or more
persons whose names are well known to Eng-
lish speaking people, which were most enter-
taining. But of these matters I am not priv-
ileged nor do I wish to speak in detail here.
They are private records now in the possession
of the English S. P. R., the publication of
which lies in the discretion of the Council of
that body. Suffice it to say that I could not
lay the volume down for more than a moment
at a time, but kept it in my hand from morn-
ing till night.

While this work was going on or when
nearly finished I was surprised one day to re-
ceive a note from Dr. Hodgson saying that
I might have a sitting. I went to the Heights

46 BOTH SIDES OF THE VEIL

on Dec. 20, 1899, Dr. Hodgson accompany-
ing me. I was practically introduced on that
day to the group of personalities on the Other
Side who have been, as it appears, managing
the communications from that side ever since,
among whom " Imperator " is supposed to be
the leader, " Rector " the amanuensis and in-
terpreter, who controls and looks after the
organism generally while the psychic is en-
tranced, " Prudens," " Grocyn," and the
" Doctor " members, all evidently assumed
appellations; to which group George Pelham,
F. W. H. Myers, and one or two others
whose names are prominent have from time
to time been added; to say nothing of numer-
ous "lesser lights, friends and relatives of in-
dividual sitters whom they have been and still
are trying to reach.

The reader who is not familiar with these
matters is referred to past regular publications
of the English S. P. R., also to a book called
" Spirit Teachings," published by William
Stainton Moses under the pseudonym of M.
A. Oxon, London, 1883; a remarkable book
which is full of the spiritual teachings of the
trance personality calling itself Imperator.

At this first sitting under the new regime,
behold my old friend Hiram Hart appeared
once more. Dr. Hodgson left the room tem-
porarily while I conversed with my friend.
He had neither progressed out of remem-

PSYCHICAL RESEARCH 47

brance of me, it seems, nor had he been un-
faithful to early ties, but the moment there
was opportunity he was on hand. He asked
if I knew that he had been calling for me for
a long time, but in reply to my question said
he had been told why I could not come. The
method of communication on this occasion was
by writing. My friend made some of his
peculiar H's, and when I said, " Hodgson
doesn't believe in those H's, does he?" he
replied: " I do not know or care; I know I
am I . . . . and that is I am Hiram
Hart."

There were statements made to me at this
and a second sitting occurring a few weeks later
which proved in the light of subsequent events
to be so important that they mark an epoch
in my life. But these I shall have to reserve
for a further chapter.

VI
ASSOCIATION WITH A. P. MARTIN

1894

In 1894 Augustus P. Martin was appointed
to the chairmanship of the board of police
and came to the office where I had already
served nine years. I had never previously
met him, though from his having been for a
long time prominent in the commercial and
social life of Boston I knew him by reputation
and had seen him in his accustomed place on
Sundays at church. At one time he had been
mayor of the city. In fact, it was just ten
years previous to this that he had served as
mayor, and it was during the year immediately
following his term of office that the amend-
ments to the city charter, previously men-
tioned, went into force, under which the board
of police was created, to which he now came
as its head.

The five years of his term of office as head
of the police department were crowded full
of serious and responsible work for him, and
I was allowed to have my share in it as one
of his assistants. During those five years I
seemed to be living under a sort of pater-
nalism, different from anything I had ever
48

AUGUSTUS P. MARTIN

I.N Hlfl Hh I IB I H ■» I .K

ASSOCIATION WITH MR. MARTIN 49

known. He was in public office what I imag-
ine an old Roman patrician might have been.
He was like a father to all young people who
were in the employ of the department of
which he had charge, especially to women.
The invasion of the business world by women
had taken place mostly in his day and he be-
lieved that this step was freighted with in-
calculable benefit to both sexes.

He had the faculty of appealing to and
calling out the best in his subordinates. The
geniality of his nature and the kindly cour-
tesy of his manner made themselves felt like
sunlight in the quarters which he occupied
daily, and during all my experience in office
life I have never known a man more loved
by other men than was he. Men were glad
to come, if for a few brief moments only,
into the warmth of his presence, and seldom
one left it without feeling better for it. This
is not my own prejudiced opinion merely, for
I have heard his occupancy of a public chair
characterized as " dignity, sweetness and
light."

He listened patiently to the complaint of
the poorest petitioner for justice or applicant
for assistance, and in cases which called for
the rendering of a judgment he generally
showed himself possessed of a wisdom and a
sense of justice such that his friends often
jokingly told him that he had missed his call-

5o BOTH SIDES OF THE VEIL

ing in life and should have been a judge on
the bench.

But with all his gentleness of manner and
kindness of heart, his mentality was original
and forceful. He did not always follow in
the footsteps of his predecessors. It was his
habit first to decide upon what policy it was
best to pursue, and then, if ordinary methods
were not adequate for putting the policy into
effect, to devise others. Not that he never
erred in judgment or in conduct. In fact, he
was one of the most natural human beings
I have ever known, and humanity does err.
His naturalness was his charm. But, I am
not writing a biography.

The General — for as such he was popu-
larly known — left the police department at
the expiration of his term of office, in the
spring of 1899, and it was in the fall of that
same year that I gave up my position also.
The association seemed to have come to an
end. Oct. 5 was the date of my leaving. On
Oct. 16 a certain psychic [Mrs. G.] whom I
saw occasionally told me that I was to go
back to my old position, that something more
was to be required of me, and on Nov. 30
another psychic [Mrs. S.] told me practically
the same thing. They were both very posi-
tive in their statements, and both said I was
to go back for a short time only. I set these
predictions down at once as incorrect, for my

ASSOCIATION WITH MR. MARTIN 5 1

feeling against returning was so strong that
I thought no possible inducement could take
me back. On Dec. 13 I had persuaded Gen-
eral Martin, who was then at leisure at his
home, to accompany me on a visit to one of
these same psychics [Mrs. S.], who prophe-
sied for him, in plain language, that another
high office or position was to be offered him.
Then came my first private sitting with Mrs.
Piper under the new regime, previously men-
tioned, which took place on Dec. 20, at which
I was accompanied by Dr. Hodgson.

Dr. Hodgson had chided me, taking the
ground of worldly wisdom, for having re-
signed the position I had held so long, not un-
derstanding all my reasons for so doing, but
when I appealed to Imperator as to whether
I had done right or wrong, the latter unhesi-
tatingly replied:

11 Right, and made the way for a new life,
new scenes, new enterprises, new conditions,
whereby thou wilt be completely thine own
master. Regret not thy act."

And Dr. Hodgson had, of course, to sub-
mit to the opinion of the personality for whom
he had so great a respect. In speaking of
future work Imperator said:

" There are many that are thy friends and
who would give thee much help and will with-
out any effort of thine own, remember, friend.
We often say seek and ye shall find. In this

52 BOTH SIDES OF THE VEIL

case we say seek not, and if we be obeyed,
every detail will be made known to thee. We
[see thee] receiving communications from thy
past surroundings which will verify all we
now give utterance to."

It happened that Josiah Quincy, who was
mayor of Boston that year, just before leaving
the mayor's chair and as almost his last offi-
cial act, appointed General Martin to the
position of water commissioner for the city,
which position he accepted and took up his
duties in the beginning of the year 1900.
This was a complete surprise to me, and I
understand was an equal surprise to the ap-
pointee. On Jan. 12 I received a request
from the new water commissioner to present
myself at City Hall for the purpose of ren-
dering him some assistance, although not then
as an employee of the department. On the
very same day, the 12th, to my astonishment
I received a letter from Dr. Hodgson saying
that Imperator had especially asked him to
arrange another sitting for me with Mrs.
Piper, that I was to go alone, that it was im-
portant for my own good, after which it might
not be necessary for me to go again for some
time.

I went to City Hall on the 15th. I did
not feel at all certain in my own mind that it
was best to engage myself in a position there
permanently. Imperator had hinted new

ASSOCIATION WITH MR. MARTIN 53

fields, new scenes, etc. I was a little puffed
up by these suggestions, and, although it was
a pleasure to assist General Martin in any kind
of work, 1 secretly hoped that my service in
government departments had come to an end,
that the monotony of my life was to be bro-
ken, and that I might take wing for some dis-
tant spot, I cared not where.

On the 17th I went again to Mrs. Piper.
Imperator said:

" Thou art being cared for in all ways and
we have thy interests at stake, friend, and we
are leading thee in the right way now. Let
us tell thee that within a few short weeks thou
wilt see a great change in thy life for the very
best. A position will be given thee without
thy seeking it. As we were closing our last
meeting we saw a light before thee of which
we could not then speak and we have chosen
this opportunity to do so."

Very shortly after this I was appointed to
a position in the water department and the
old association was renewed, City Hall being
only a stone's throw from the old locality. I
therefore considered that the prophecy made
by the two psychics was almost literally ful-
filled. Imperator, however, seemed to see
this still more clearly, and said: "We warn
thee not to re-enter the former surroundings,
we desire thee to keep apart from it altogether,
and we ask thee to dare not disobey our lead-

54 BOTH SIDES OF THE VEIL

ings." He had seen me " receiving communi-
cations from my past surroundings," which
was correct, but did not see me going back to
the identical position in the police department.
All three psychics saw the same event, which
was to take place and did take place, Mrs.
Piper seeing it more clearly than the other
two psychics, as I reread my notes to-day.

I have thought best to give these items in
detail in this particular instance, since they all
are so closely related. The subject of fore-
sight, however, is one on which I do not wish
to express here any definite opinion whatever,
nor to assume an understanding of it. Coming
events cast their shadows before, which we
ourselves, with our normal sight, can some-
times perceive. It is human, especially when
one is in trouble or doubt, to want to know7
something about what is to take place, but it
is not dignified to seek to know about the fu-
ture to the extent of having one's serenity dis-
turbed in the performance of the duty of the
day. In fact, it seems to me that it is only
in the conscientious performance of the daily
duty, without undue anxiety about the future,
that desirable changes are brought about. We
bring them about ourselves. We work stead-
ily toward them and by some occult law we
draw to ourselves that which we really need,
that of which we are deserving and for which

ASSOCIATION WITH MR. MARTIN 55

we are prepared. Outward affairs, in the life
of a serious-minded person, seem to follow
and correspond with inward change and
growth.

VII

APPARENT FAILURE OF PREDIC-
TION

1900-1902

To go back to the sitting of Jan. 17, 1900,
with Mrs. Piper, mentioned in the preceding
chapter. Of all the sittings which I can re-
member, this one made the deepest impression
upon me. After a few lines of script the
pencil was dropped from the psychic's hand
and the voice taken, and for nearly two hours
conversation was carried on. Before the time
was up I threw away my own pen and paper,
gave up the effort to take notes, and had a
heart to heart talk with the trance personalities.

It was my first experience with Rector's use
of the voice. His style differed so greatly
from the familiar style of Phinuit, or even
from that of my friend Hiram Hart, that I
realized at once that I was conversing with a
different individuality. He was so dignified,
so kind, so sympathetic, so serious, so desirous
of assisting me to lift my life to a higher level,
that I was almost overcome. How these
newly found spirits, whoever they might be,
should know so much about me, I could not
understand. I thought myself a stranger to
56

FAILURE OF PREDICTION 57

them, but they seemed to know me through
and through. They saw in me capacity which
I only half recognized in myself, and they
seemed to think me worthy of their time,
their effort, their assistance, and they en-
deavored to convince me of the fact that
my life was of some importance and must
not be undervalued by me. The period of
fourteen years in one spot, just then
ended, had seemed long and difficult to
me, yet Imperator now called it " only a short
school for thee." So brief evidently do the
decades seem to the discarnate eye which takes
in the wider span.

Hiram Hart came and said: " Oh, I bless
the day when I found you here. I do not see
you very often now. I come here and take a
look and do not see you and then go away."
" Here " means at the scene of operations, the
point of communication, which is always where
Mrs. Piper happens for the time to be located.

But the most important statement made to
me by Imperator on this occasion, in speaking
of my again being associated with General
Martin, was the following:

" We see thee and him writing a book
together."

I asked: "What about?"

" It is concerning the natural things in life
and many different conditions of thy life,
which will be put together in a form of phi-

5 8 BOTH SIDES OF THE VEIL

losophy. // zvill be so in spite of anything
which thou mayst think to the contrary."

It was true we were able to work well to-
gether, or so at least I flattered myself. Both
the commercial world and the official world
to-day are full of just such combinations of
men as directors and women as right-hand as-
sistants. A woman serving in the capacity of
private secretary to a man whose mind is filled
with the affairs of his office and whose time is
precious should be able to adapt herself to his
peculiarities, complement his weaknesses, and
stand respectfully and safely aside from his
strength. Women have an intuitive percep-
tion of these things, and even a young woman
who has not had experience is often easily able
to adjust herself to the requirements of such
a position. At any rate, when in a haphazard
selection the right combination is formed, a
better than the ordinary grade of work ought
to be expected and more than the usual amount
can be accomplished.

I will say here that as far back as when I
was at school I made up my mind that, what-
ever else I did, I would not attempt to become
an author. That was not to be my field.
Others were more naturally fitted for it. I
must have other work to do. Later in life,
when I found myself struggling along in doubt
and mental darkness, and occasionally the solu-
tion of some problem would relieve my mind,

FAILURE OF PREDICTION 59

I flattered myself secretly that sometime I
might gather together into a sort of whole
the solutions of the various problems which
had presented themselves to me, and inflict the
mass in printed form upon others. Still later,
I came to the conclusion that every problem,
without exception, with which I had battled
had been met and solved ages before I was
born ; I found that the wisdom of all the great
philosophers had been handed down and was
accessible to all who could read, and therefore
I again dropped the idea of ever entering the
field of authorship. Not that it is a difficult
thing in these days to write and publish a
book of some kind, but I concluded that there
were too many books in the world. The
world be better off if there were only half
as many. But when Imperator marked out
my path for me in the manner above given, I
confess to at least a little surprise, and on
another later occasion, when I remarked to him
that I did not wish to publish a book simply
from a sense of duty, he replied :

" Friend, to write a book, it is thy doom or
duty, one and both combined."

I did not speak of this particular matter to
General Martin. He was eager to hear all I
was willing to report, but while I gave him
much, I also withheld much. I simply told
him in a general way that it was said we were
yet to do some special work together. I was

60 BOTH SIDES OF THE VEIL

afraid and ashamed to tell him. I had long
before learned to keep prophecies to myself
until I saw some sign of their fulfilment. He
was a man of family ties, of many cares, bur-
dens and responsibilities both in his private
and public life, and especially when illness
came upon him I could see no possible way by
which any work of that kind could be done.

I will say here that he did not specially pur-
sue the subject of Spiritism in the sense of
seeking mediums and paying attention to what
they had to say, yet he was altogether too
open-minded and simple-hearted to scoff at it.
Soon after my making his acquaintance he re-
lated to me an interesting experience of his
own which happened very soon after the death
of his mother, who died when he was a young
man of about twenty-one, and to whom he had
been attached with more than the usual devo-
tion of son to mother. A servant in the fam-
ily, young and quite ignorant, gave indications
of being controlled by the spirit of his mother
within a short time after her passing out, giv-
ing her maiden name — Verrall — a very
uncommon name, and one which the servant
could not possibly have known. I cannot re-
late the incident in full, my point being that it
made an ineradicable impression upon his mind
and was sufficiently serious to cause him to re-
frain from speaking lightly of such matters
when he found any one deeply interested in

FAILURE OF PREDICTION 61

them, had he otherwise been inclined to do so.

During middle life he attended the church
of the Rev. Minot J. Savage for something
over twenty years, rarely missed a Sunday and
took a leading part in the management of
church affairs. He was an admirer of Mr.
Savage's independent thinking, and all the old
attendants at that church know that there was
a great deal of what might be called Spiritual-
ism in Mr. Savage's sermons.

He sat in his chair at City Hall for some-
what over a year, then one day in March,
1 90 1, he was taken ill and obliged to remain
at his home. He was, however, continued in
office by two mayors, Thomas N. Hart and
Patrick A. Collins. This was one way in
which his conspicuous service of the past, to
both city and country, was recognized by some
of his friends, citizens of Boston of substantial
character, who had power and influence in the
management of public affairs. But I wish to
state here, in justice to him, that during al-
most the entire length of his illness his mind
remained clear, he was knowing to all the im-
portant affairs of the department of which he
had charge, and himself dictated its policy.
It devolved upon me to travel back and forth
frequently, almost daily, between City Hall
and his residence in the suburbs, carrying bills
and papers of all kinds, getting his signature to
them and taking back his orders. I remem-

62 BOTH SIDES OF THE VEIL

ber one instance in particular when he dictated
an important letter, assigning newly appointed
subordinates to their respective places and
duties, a letter which was remarked upon when
I took it back to the office for the clearness
and terseness of its expression and for the
authority which it conveyed.

But this was a weary summer, that of 1901.
The suffering sick were languishing in the ex-
treme heat, and for the well there was the dead
monotony of life's drudgery and the heart-
sickness which comes from hope deferred. I
had not had access to Mrs. Piper since Novem-
ber of the preceding year. The trance per-
sonalities had not sent for me, and it was not
my habit at that time to ask for sittings. All
signs seemed to be failing, and the ground
which I had thought solid seemed to be slipping
again from beneath my feet. I think, how-
ever, Dr. Hodgson made it known that I de-
sired a sitting, and on Jan. 13, 1902, at a
sitting of his own, the following came :

" Also Miss Robbins' friends hath tried in
vain to reach her. I, Rector, in particular.
But, friend, we fail to reach through lights *
sufficiently to give our messages clearly."

Dr. Hodgson replied: "She thought she
got a few words I believe from you through
another light."

1 " Light " is the word commonly used by the trance
personalities for " psychic " or " medium."

FAILURE OF PREDICTION 63

Rector said: "Imperator sent me several
times but I was not sure that I had reached
her."

This certainly implies that Imperator and
his group do try or have tried on occasions to
communicate through other " lights " when
there is special need of their reaching those
over whom they assume to have charge.
What they do in the way of experiment is
another matter. I had recognized on one or
two occasions what appeared to be an attempt
on the part of Rector to communicate with me
through natural but undeveloped psychics. I
felt strongly that such an attempt was being
made.

A sitting was arranged for me, to take place
about a week later, on Jan. 22. From that
time on, for the next two months, I was con-
stantly receiving through Dr. Hodgson mes-
sages from Imperator and Rector and sending
messages to them. For, strange as it may
seem, although the sick man whom all these
messages concerned knew very little, almost
nothing, about Imperator and his group, the
latter apparently took a very great interest in
him. I delivered to him a few messages which
I thought might give him hope and comfort,
and I think I must certainly have given him the
impression that my own feeling, in spite of all
misunderstandings, was that just as soon as he
passed through and emerged from the shadow

64 BOTH SIDES OF THE VEIL

of death there would be for him a welcome on
the Other Side of which he little dreamed. At
least, that was my hope.

But the important point here in its relation
to psychical research is that I believed, from
the many emphatic statements made to me by
a group of spirits, that I was to be required in
the future to assist in a field of work which
they considered most important, that there
was a particular person with whom I was to be
associated in that work perhaps more closely
than with any other, yet that particular person
was dying.

While the object I have in view compels me
to speak freely of serious things, I trust no
one will dream that there is aught in my
heart but the utmost reverence for everything
associated with that most mysterious change
through which all human beings must pass and
which comes to none but once. Although I
had been bereft of certain relatives and friends,
it had not hitherto fallen to my lot to sit often
or long at the bedside of the sick. But to
watch a fellow-creature who is gradually and
surely approaching the end of life, who will
not stay his feet for protest, tear or prayer,
to almost see the soul as it plumes its wings for
flight, is certainly an experience which should
produce the greatest awe in the heart and the
mind of the watcher.

FAILURE OF PREDICTION 65

The actual date of the passing out was
March 13, 1902.

While General Martin was a man widely
known in his own city, he had little reputation
which extended beyond this limit, except in
connection with the War of the Rebellion, in
which he served during its entire continuance.
He was complimented by General Meade for
distinguished service at the Battle of Gettys-
burg. It was on the third and last day of this
memorable and terrific fight that his battery,
which had been located with immense difficulty
on the summit of a rugged hill, had a clear
sweep of the open field over which Pickett's
Division of the Confederate Army made its
famous charge, rank after rank of which were
mowed down by the steady firing from Little
Round Top, and the tide of battle was turned.

The Boston Transcript said of him at the
time of his death: "Hardly any other of
Boston's citizens was better known, and few
had contributed more than he of time, talent
and activity to the military and civic service
and functions of the city. . . . He fitted
best into those free movements of citizens
called into being by special occasions, and ex-
pressive of local patriotism and public spirit.
It was the recognition of this fitness that secur-
ed his selection as chief marshall upon two of
the most prominent commemorative occasions

66 BOTH SIDES OF THE VEIL

within the last quarter-century, and he was
sure to be prominent in all projects for the
development and improvement of his city."

He was not a general in the army, nor did
that title rightfully belong to him until the year
1882, when Governor John D. Long, after-
wards Secretary of the United States Navy,
upon whose staff he was serving at the time,
commissioned him, lawfully, Brigadier General,
in recognition of his valuable services during
the war. Another newspaper article which
appeared at the time of his death says:
11 Tardy justice was thus done and he there-
after bore a title truthfully which he had long
borne by courtesy."

It may be evident later that the title which
best fits a person's character, the name by
which he has been most intimately known and
by which he is most endeared, clings to him
after he has passed to the Other Side.

VIII
FULFILMENT

i 903- 1 907

March 13, 1902, must be borne in mind as
an important date in this narration. It mark-
ed the passing of a life from this earth. A
few days after the occurrence I saw Dr.
Hodgson and instructed him particularly not to
mention my name in any way at the Piper
trance, as it is sometimes called. I felt that,
as matters stood between myself and the trance
personalities, there had been to say the least
some misunderstanding and confusion, and
that the only dignified course for me to pursue
was to ask no favors and abide my time. I
thought this my opportunity, too, to test the
value once more of what had seemed to be a
close relation between myself and personalities
whom I knew only as a part of the Unseen.

No word or hint came for me during the
remainder of that season, and almost another
whole season passed when one day, May 21,
1903, at a sitting of Dr. Hodgson's, in one of
those significant mutterings of Mrs. Piper's
when coming out of trance, when she seems to
be returning to her body, taking last glimpses
of people in the spirit whom she designates as
67

68 BOTH SIDES OF THE VEIL

" white people," while those to whom she is
returning appear to her "black," she said:

" General Martin says he is coming here
pretty soon to speak — Martin — love to —
this is a pretty dark place after all."

Nothing more until Dec. 15 of that same
year, when the following conversation took
place between Rector and Dr. Hodgson while
arrangements were being made for future
sittings, Rector's words being quoted from the
automatic script, Dr. Hodgson's being en-
closed in the round brackets : —

" There is a spirit here who calls constantly
for a lady in the body whom he refers to
as —

[Hand enquires of Spirit?]

"Rob bins."

(Yes. She will doubtless be rejoiced to
come. She said long ago that she was waiting
for anything that came.)

" This is Imperator's arrangement for the
spirit who spake unto Him to give him re-
lief."

(Yes.)

" Imperator hath referred to it several times
and called our attention to it but He hath not
really commanded us until now, as He hath
been assisting the spirit."

" Wilt thou attend to this friend on the
earthly side and appoint for a meeting with us
on the third after coming? "

FULFILMENT 69

(Yes, I will.)

[" Third after coming " means the third
day after the coming Sabbath.]

A sitting was then arranged for me, to take
place on Dec. 23d, about twenty-one months
after the passing out. Behold, my old friend,
business associate and employer appears, com-
municates as clearly and strongly as if he had
had many previous opportunities instead of
having had none, and at this very first oppor-
tunity says:

" I want to know if you don't think we
could manage to write a book? "

And later, on the same occasion :

" I have had this on my mind ever since I
came into this world and I would like to have
it carried out."

Still later :

" It has got to be. It is a thing that I am
bound to have."

I ask:

(You mean that you are bound I shall
publish a book?)

The reply came:

" Literally, absolutely, out and out, with
pen, paper and ink, write a book and publish
it, and I am going to be the inspirer and insti-
gator of it, and we are going to write that book
together just as sure as you live."

What! Was it then true that the line of
work marked out four years previously was

7o BOTH SIDES OF THE VEIL

after all to be pursued, no hindrance having
occurred in the meantime except — except —
except — death ! !

My sittings with Mrs. Piper continued from
that time on, taking place, however, rarely. I
was directed from the beginning to withhold
some of my communications from Dr. Hodg-
son, although I gave him the greater part of
them. He could not himself always under-
stand the full purpose of my relation to the
trance personalities, or why a certain day
should be assigned to me rather than to some
one else who could give more substantial aid to
the investigations that were being carried on in
the name of science, or some one who, perhaps,
received better communications and more mat-
ter that was evidential in its nature than my
own. But it is well known that he came in
time to obey implicitly the wishes of the trance
personalities in making arrangements for the
different sitters, and I am told that he was
heard to remark in his emphatic way, in re-
gard to an appointment for me : " If they
wish it, so it shall be."

I do not claim any " inspiration " in any-
thing I say or do. Nor do I disclaim it. I
simply do not know. In the first place, I
would not be guilty of putting upon any spirit,
either friend or stranger, the responsibility for
something no better than what I can do. In
the second place , if I do anything that is

FULFILMENT 71

worthy, especially after long preparation and
with much effort, I am human enough still to
want a little credit for it, for myself. I fond-
ly dreamed that I might become one of those
scribes who have only to hold the pencil for
language to flow with fluency from the tips of
their fingers. But not so. I might sit for an
hour at a time in silent expectation, and not
until there was a conscious effort on my part to
move the pencil would it show the slightest in-
clination to stir.

However, to say that I am not conscious of
the cooperation of friends in the Unseen in any
part of my work would not be strictly true. I
am often conscious of their presence. Apart
from the recognition within one's own spirit,
there are at times delicate changes in or subtle
states of the nervous system which come grad-
ually to be recognized by the highly sensitive
organization as sure indices of the closeness of
other beings, though we cannot point the fin-
ger at them or clasp them by the hand. I feel
sure from conversations I have had with others
that this fact lies within the experience of many
people who will recognize the truth of what I
say, impossible as it is to define such experience
with sufficient precision to make it understood
by one who has never known it.

On December 1, 1905, the many friends of
Dr. Richard Hodgson were astounded at see-
ing in the morning papers the announcement of

72 BOTH SIDES OF THE VEIL

his sudden death, which occurred the preced-
ing evening. It is safe to say that there was
not a man in the city of Boston who took bet-
ter care of his health, who derived more
pleasure from athletic sports, who felt more
pride in keeping his physique up to its highest
standard. He purified his body and his life
for his special work, and I feel that I am
within bounds of the strictest veracity when I
say that in and through that work higher ideals
of living were continually being presented to
his mind. He was not ashamed to say that he
followed the advice of an " Imperator " or of
some other unseen intelligence even in matters
pertaining to physical well-being, although 1
think no one who ever saw him could say that
he had aught but the greatest respect for his
own good judgment which was plainly indicated
upon his brow.

The day of his death happened to be my op-
portunity at Arlington Heights. I had a
sitting in the morning and he died in the very
early evening of the same day. No hint of
what was to take place reached me from the
Other Side. Mrs. Piper, who had just enter-
ed upon her work for the season, was much
shocked by the occurrence. I spent an hour
at her bedside on the evening of the day after
the death, and she related to me a most inter-
esting dream which she had the preceding
night. It was, in brief, as follows:

FULFILMENT 73

She seemed to be approaching a large dark
tunnel. At its entrance, appearing from the
inside, stood a man who waved his hand at
her with a motion which seemed to say:
" Keep back, do no enter this tunnel." She
related her dream early the next morning to
members of her family, remarking as she did
so that the hand looked like Dr. Hodgson's
hand and its peculiar motion was like his. It
was not until after she had told her dream that
the morning paper containing the news of the
death was laid upon her bed. Of course I
was ready at once with my own interpretation
of the dream, which seemed to me a most sig-
nificant one, namely, that Dr. Hodgson's first
thought, on finding that he had himself
traversed the dark passage leading from this
world to the other, was to turn back to impress
upon her the importance of the fact that her
time had not yet come, that her work was not
yet finished.

I took down the dream at her dictation and
afterwards secured its corroboration by her
daughters. I handed this record in to the
authorities, but have never seen or heard of any
reference to the dream since that time. My
own interpretation of it, however, certainly
harmonizes with a message which purported to
come for Mrs. Piper from Dr. Hodgson him-
self later in that winter at one of my own sit-
tings ; for, strange as it may seem, though many

74 BOTH SIDES OF THE VEIL

messages come through her, seldom one comes
for her. He said:

" Will you give my love to Mrs. Piper and
tell her that I wish her to cling to the rigging,
and tell her to go on unceasingly, untiringly,
and everything will win out."

I attended Dr. Hodgson's funeral on Dec.
23> I9°5* On Jan. I, 1906, eight days later,
when passing out of my house in the morning
and glancing at the accustomed place for my
mail, what was my astonishment at seeing an
envelope addressed to myself in the familiar
and peculiar handwriting of Dr. Hodgson. It
startled even me a little, to whom life and
death have become the same. The envelope
contained his Christmas card. He had for
some years been in the habit of sending to his
friends, at Christmas, cards with a few lines or
a stanza of poetry printed thereon, an accom-
paniment to his good wishes for the season. I
learned later that the envelopes were found all
addressed, ready for the Christmas mail, and
about ten days after his death his executors had
them mailed. This particular selection, lines
from Tennyson, was so appropriate to the oc-
casion and the circumstances that I will insert
it here:

Let be thy wail, and help thy fellow-men,
And make thy gold thy vassal, not thy king,
And fling free alms into the beggar's bowl,
And send the day into the darken'd heart;

FULFILMENT 75

Nor list for guerdon in the voice of men,
A dying echo from a falling wall;

*******

And lay thine uphill shoulder to the wheel,
And climb the Mount of Blessing, whence, if

thou
Look higher, then — perchance — thou mayest

— beyond
A hundred ever-rising mountain lines,
And past the range of Night and Shadow — see
The high-heaven dawn of more than mortal day
Strike on the Mount of Vision!

Surely a call to duty if ever there were one,
a clarion call from the Mount of Vision itself,
which he had already climbed.

Dr. Hodgson occupied an unique position in
Boston in relation to other people who were
interested in psychical research, and especially
to those who had access to Mrs. Piper. He
was the centre of a group. He was the centre
of a circle. Each member of the circle placed
in him the utmost confidence, a trust he was
never known to betray Yet, while his ac-
quaintance extended to all, there was not a gen-
eral acquaintance among the members of the
group. They formed a sort of chain to which
his relation was the connecting link. But
when he fell, a half-dozen or more sitters im-
mediately joined hands to see to it that the
chain should not entirely fall apart; to see that
all papers and reports confidentially placed in

76 BOTH SIDES OF THE VEIL

his keeping should be properly safeguarded;
and, perhaps more important than all else, to
see that the " Light," so called, should be care-
fully watched and that opportunities for
further experiment should if possible be offer-
ed, now that he was on the Other Side instead
of on this.

I discovered then that there were at least
a few people who, while recognizing fully the
scientific importance of this work, had at the
same time received from the Other Side of the
Veil a spiritual uplifting which meant almost
their salvation.

To return to my sitting of Dec. 20 of this
same year (1905), a date which marks an
epoch in the annals of psychical research in this
country. While conversing with my communi-
cator I remarked that I would like to tell the
gentleman at the head of the state department
in which I was employed something about my
private work. I thought it was due him to be
told something about the nature of the outside
matters which occasionally took me away from
my post, that it was no more than courtesy on
my part to inform him. Moreover, I took
him to be a man who would not allow himself
to be prejudiced against the subject, whether
familiar with it or not, and who might even
take an interest it it. The reply was:

II It would be a little unwise at the present
time, ... it might weaken his respect

FULFILMENT 77

for you along the intellectual lines,
but there is a time for everything, and the
truth will bear its weight and it will work its
way through all the dark clouds and win its
way into the light, and leave this to time, and
the time will present itself when you can speak
openly on the question and not be considered in-
ferior intellectually, and that is what I do not
wish. I am determined that you shall be re-
spected."

These remarks, unimportant though they
may seem, turned out very shortly to be truly
prophetic in their nature. Dr. Hodgson died
on the evening of that very day. I did not
know of the death until some time the follow-
ing day. At the very first sitting which took
place after the death, given to a gentleman who
had been a close friend of Dr. Hodgson's
and familiar with his work for years, the
trance personalities mentioned the names of
various persons who, in the emergency which
had arisen, could be of service in what they
call " their work," and my name was one of
the number. My assistance, however, was not
actually requested by those in charge on this
side until about two months later.

It must be remembered by the uninitiated
that the more highly developed the psychic and
the deeper the trance into which she passes, the
more delicate, apparently, are the conditions
pertaining to that state, and the greater the

78 BOTH SIDES OF THE VEIL

watchfulness required on the part of the sitter.
And in this particular case the spirit controls
are somewhat autocratic. They will have this
and they will not have that. They will allow
this person and they will not allow that person.
It is wholly against their wishes, for reasons
probably still best known to themselves, that
strangers should be introduced without their
express consent. And sometimes they say in
as many words that if their wishes in certain
matters are not complied with they will " re-
fuse to come," which evidently means that Mrs.
Piper would not be able to go into the trance
state at her pleasure and there would be no
sitting. The control of affairs is practically
from the Other Side, however much we may
like to ignore the fact.

About this time, two months after the death,
some one in authority on this side, on his own
initiative, consulted with the governor of the
commonwealth and the chief of the department
where I was engaged — by name Dr. Austin
Peters — and I was briefly informed that I
might absent myself on occasional days for the
special purpose of assisting in the Piper work,
provided that my absence was " not detrimen-
tal to the public service," and provided, also,
that time thus taken should be charged against
the vacation days of the year which were due
me. I found that Dr. Peters, while unfamiliar
with psychial research as such, recognized the

FULFILMENT 79

importance of any work done in the name of
science. During the remainder of the season,
therefore, I was present at many of the sittings
and assisted in keeping the records.

The subject having been brought to my at-
tention in the manner explained, instead of my
being obliged to bring it to the attention of
others, and my pathway thus made easy, was
all the fulfilment that I desired of the pro-
phetic words uttered through the trance two
months previously.

It appears, then, that respect for psychical
research still depends somewhat — at least in
an opinion expressed from the Other Side —
upon whether the work be initiated and back-
ed by some one high in social standing or offi-
cial life, or whether it be pursued by some one
lower down in the scale of position. But let
us be thankful that search in this interesting
and important field has at last become respect-
able, no matter by whom it has been made so.

During the winter of 1906-7 Mrs. Piper
was in England giving sittings under the
auspices of the English S. P. R. at its rooms
in London. [See Proc. Part LVII, Vol.
XXII, October, 1908.] The winter of
1907-8 she spent in Boston. I was called
early in the season for a sitting. My com-
municator appears, tells me that " delays are
dangerous," and that he wishes me to lose no
time in the gathering together of my scattered
papers in preparation for publication.

IX

FAITH

I do not like the word " belief " as it is com-
monly used, and I have tried to extirpate it
from my vocabulary; not, however, with per-
fect success. When a person puts the direct
question to me, " Do you believe such and such
a thing," and expects me to answer yes or no,
I feel that by answering " yes " I am com-
mitting myself to a state of mind so positive
that it shuts out further light on the point in
question. Many times I have answered : " I
neither believe nor disbelieve; I think it
is so, but do not know." For that is
what the word means, an acceptance of an
opinion or a fact without personal knowl-
edge of its truth. The word is associated
in my mind with an ignorant assent, and
after throwing away dogmatic belief in
early years I have tried to keep my mind
open for whatever of new there might come
into it, and not make hasty judgments. I want
to know things. Some things I do know and
can prove their truth to others. Many other
things are for me practically true, though I
can not prove their truth to others. They
appear to me to be true, and the appearance is
so strong that it practically amounts to a belief,
80

FAITH 8 1

so that I can hardly dispense with the word
after all. But to believe a thing without any
knowledge at all, either the knowledge that
comes from a clear inner light or an outward
experience, is something that is contrary to my
nature, and when I am expected to answer yes
or no to a direct question about belief, I want
to have some idea of what the person who puts
the question means by the word.

The expression " inner light " has no mean-
ing for many people, but for some it has a very
great significance. Inner light sometimes
makes a truth so clear, to the person possessing
the light, that it is impossible for him not to
believe it even before outward experience has
confirmed it, and though all the world may for
the moment say " you are wrong."

During the larger portion of the first busy
decade of which I have spoken, after swing-
ing onto a ground of no definite religious belief
of any kind, I, too, was privileged to sit under
the liberalizing, optimistic and truly spiritual
teaching of the Rev. Minot J. Savage, then
occupying a pulpit in Boston. The seeming
deadness to me of everything outside of the
senses was gradually lessening, and a new kind
of faith in a future life was budding; not one
which had been handed down to me from my
ancestors, but one which was destined in time
to become more real, and my experiences in
Spiritism, so called, probably helped on con-

82 BOTH SIDES OF THE VEIL

siderably the growth of this new faith. I
would not give the impression that from the
very beginning I actually believed in all that
purported to come from the spirit world, but
with long continued experience, and a fidelity
on the part of friends on the Other Side which
seems never to fail, conviction grows, it fastens
itself upon one and cannot be shaken off.

Belief in a future life is, as William James
puts it, " largely a matter of personal feeling."
It is, I think, a matter of individual apprehen-
sion and appropriation, based partly upon ex-
perience in what purports to be communion of
some sort with the so-called dead, and partly
upon an indefinable quality of the soul which is
able to appropriate from the Vastness outside
of itself, a quality variable in its potency in
different individuals and which one person can-
not impart to another. I might offer page
after page of communications, yet they would
never mean to one who sees them only in the
cold type what they mean to me. Personal
experience of this kind, therefore, may be a
very large factor in the gradual growth of be-
lief, yet not the only factor and perhaps not
the most important. The layman who is eager
and thirsting for the truth cannot wait for
the dictum of Science, and if to him truth is
revealed in some surer and quicker way than
by the slow process of scientific experimenta-
tion, no one may easily rob him of the personal

FAITH 83

satisfaction which he derives from such revela-
tion.

As one after another of my friends have
gone to the spirit world they have in turn
become such a vital part of my every-day con-
sciousness that I think about them and speak
of them as if they were still actually in my
circle of acquaintance and only temporarily out
of my sight. I believe that I do converse
with them, perhaps not in the " fullness of
their personality," or the " same fullness of
clear consciousness that they exhibited during
life," but that I do converse with them; that
there is, not always, but on many occasions,
a clear and distinct understanding between me
and my communicator, and a sense of grati-
fication on my part as of having met and ex-
changed greetings with some dear old friend.
I do not think, however, that if I had not had
opportunity with some of the most gifted and
highly developed psychics I should ever have
become possessed of so strong a sense of re-
ality and gratification. This I say with the
greatest respect for those who possess the
psychic gift in a lesser degree.

It was not until the passing of the friend
who went last to the spirit world that I seemed
somehow to come into the blessedness of think-
ing mostly about life and excluding death al-
together from my thoughts, of feeling life in
the air which I breathe, the sky which I look

84 BOTH SIDES OF THE VEIL

at, the sun which shines upon me, and the
darkness which shrouds and rests me; in fact,
life and intelligence everywhere. And the
wonderful thing about thus " coming into uni-
versal consciousness," as it is called, is that
it takes away morbid over-anxiety to under-
stand the whole scheme of creation or nothing,
it brings back the natural charm of things
which we felt in our childhood, it puts a new
meaning into our common every-day life, and
makes it worth while to endeavor to make of
it a " thing of beauty," a " thing of power."

I do not wish to be understood as uttering
any final word on the subject of prophecy, or
as really offering any explanation at all. That
must be left to the psychologist and the sci-
entist. Nor do I wish any one to place any
reliance whatever on predictions made by
psychics from anything I may say. However
important the subject of prophecy may be, the
predictions themselves form a small part of
the mass and the worth of the communications
that come through Mrs. Piper. But I offer
my personal experience, and if read aright I
think it will show that the counsel given by
Imperator and his group, as it affects an indi-
vidual life and the spiritual significance of in-
dividual life-work, is far-seeing and wise,
piercing not merely through a few years, but
even through death itself.

In 1 90 1, four years before the death of Dr.

FAITH 85

Richard Hodgson, I communicated with him
asking if he would kindly give me some in-
formation on the matter of the failure or the
fulfilment of prophecy as it had come under
his observation. He replied promptly and at
length. At the close of the letter in which
he discussed it fully for my benefit, he gave ex-
pression to his own belief in the reality of the
trance personalities in language so emphatic
and so beautiful that I cannot refrain from
quoting it here. After his death copies of
this letter were circulated among some of his
most intimate friends, none of whom had seen
anything quite like it written by him, and this
particular passage, or rather the latter part
of it, came to be known among these friends
as his " confession of faith." 1

The passage in question has not been in
every instance quite accurately quoted, possibly
owing to my own misinterpretation of it orig-
inally, and then to its getting into print with-
out my having opportunity to correct it. I

1 This has already been published, with my permission,
privately at first, being included in a paper read at the
annual meeting of the Tavern Club of Boston on May
6, 1906, by M. A. DeWolfe Howe, and later copied.

Those who are interested are referred to a memorial
of Richard Hodgson by Dr. James H. Hyslop, Journal of
the American Society for Psychical Research, Vol. I,
January, 1907; and to memorials by Mrs. Henry Sidg-
Wtck and J. G. Piddington, in Proceedings of the English
Society for Psychical Research, Part LII, Vol. XIX.
February, 1907, in which the paper by Mr. Howe, above
mentioned, is also included.

86 BOTH SIDES OF THE VEIL

am therefore tempted to give it here in Dr.
Hodgson's own peculiar chirography, which
will be recognized by his many friends to
whom his handwriting is familiar.

TRANSCRIPTION

November 24, 1901.
Dear Miss Robe-ins: I should have replied to
yours of 17 earlier, but could not find any copy of
the notes which I now enclose in T sheets.

*******

But apart from all this we must remember that
nothing can be regarded as infallible, and I tried to
put my general view about this in the notes a copy
of which I enclose. About what Imperator and his
group are in their world I have no doubt. They
have done for me and for some others also, — more
than everything, but the final written or spoken re-
sults through Mrs. P.'s inadequate organism sur-
rounded by our earthly make-ups generally can only
afford us faint glimpses of the great holies from
which they take their origin. We cannot pray too
much to do and suffer the will of God, whatever it
be. I went through toils and turmoils and perplexi-
ties in '97 and '98 about the significance of this whole
Imperator regime, but I have seemed to get on a
rock after that, — I seem to understand clearly the
reasons for incoherence and obscurity, etc., and I think
that if for the rest of my life from now I should
never see another trance or have another word from
Imperator or his group, — it would make no differ-
ence to my knowledge that all is well, that Impera-

i

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y.

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if lift

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86 ROTR QTTM7C

FAITH 87

tor, etc., are all they claim to be and are indeed mes-
sengers that we may call divine. Be of good courage
whatever happens, and pray continually, and let peace
come into your soul. Why should you be distraught
and worried? Everything, absolutely everything, —
from a spot of ink to all the stars, every faintest
thought we think up to the contemplations of the
highest intelligences in the cosmos, are all in and
part of the infinite Goodness. Rest in that Divine
Love. All your trials are known better than you
know them yourself. Do you think it is an idle
word that the hairs of our heads are numbered?
Have no dismay, fear nothing and trust in God.
Yours sincerely,

R. Hodgson.

I give also extracts from a second letter in
reply to my acknowledgment of the above.

TRANSCRIPTION

Boston, Mass., December 1, 1901.

Dear Miss Robbins: Just a word or two in
reply to your kind letter of November 27. Thanks
for T document returned.

Of course we get misrepresented and misunder-
stood in all sorts of ways. In the old years when
I was prominent in exposing fraudulent mediums,
Spiritualists generally used to revile me as a gross
materialistic skeptic who had no other object but the
persistent determination to disprove Spiritualism.
Nothing could have been further from the truth even

88 BOTH SIDES OF THE VEIL

then. And now, as you rightly say, in recent years,
with the Imperator regime, another influence has
come which I trust, even to the end and after, —
with all my darkness and weakness and blunderings
and brutencsses, — I shall not escape, which I trust
will abide with me ever, for it is law and love and
peace and freedom and joy and God.
Yours ever,

Richard Hodgson.

These letters speak for themselves and need
no comment from me.

Let me say once more that I have been re-
peatedly and continually urged by those on
the Other Side of the Veil, since 1900, and
more especially since 1902, to offer to others
something of my experience and something of
the comfort which I myself have received.

And the End is Not Yet. September, igog.

AMERICAN BRANCH

Society for psychical Research.

RICHARD HODGSON, 11. D.,

SBoston, Mass.: £2^ / /A/

PART II

COMMUNICATIONS FROM THE

OTHER SIDE OF THE VEIL

THROUGH MRS. PIPER

X

PREFATORY EXPLANATIONS

Up to the beginning of 1906 I never
dreamed that I should arrive at the point of
publishing reports of my own sittings with
Mrs. Piper. The reports were not mine to
publish, as they were all in the hands of Dr.
Hodgson and he held them by right of his
office as Secretary of the Society for Psychical
Research. For some years previous to his
death the condition on which most or all of
the sittings were allowed was that a report
of some kind should be made to him, every
sitter, of course, retaining the right to with-
hold whatever was considered of too intimate
and personal a character to disclose. He
himself accompanied many of the sitters and
made his own records. It was my habit to
make very full reports. On my proposing on
one occasion to omit some talk about my
health, which I did not presume was of in-
terest to any one but myself, he insisted that
I should give him every word that I possibly
could, saying that he had been working for
years to obtain verbatim reports of these sit-
tings, and that, of the few people whose com-
munications came by voice, I happened to be
the only one who was accustomed to the more

91

92 BOTH SIDES OF THE VEIL

rapid reporting. Therefore I gave him much
that I would not think, of allowing to be pub-
lished, on the understanding between us that
before he made any use of these records by
way of publications of his own there would
be opportunity for the reconsideration and
the withholding of certain portions. I gave
him these full records for the purpose of en-
abling him as a psychologist to form a better
judgment of the value of a sitting as a whole.

He also expressed to me his opinion that
in the publication of records it is better to
make use of real names as far as possible
rather than pseudonyms, although he recog-
nized that there are many considerations en-
tering into the question, and that this cannot
always or perhaps often be done.

The sudden death of Dr. Hodgson altered
entirely the situation of affairs. In May,
1906, the authorities, in issuing an announce-
ment of the proposed dissolution of the Ameri-
can Branch of the S. P. JR., made the following
statement:

" The Piper records, and all documents
appertaining thereto, will remain in charge of
the Council of the Society; and, as promptly
as the labor involved in the study of their vo-
luminous and complicated contents will allow,
a full report on the later developments of
the Piper case up to the date of Dr. Hodgson's
death will be issued in the Proceedings.

PREFATORY EXPLANATIONS 93

" After publication the Council of the So-
ciety will allow qualified and serious students
access to the records; but only on terms which
will ensure that all private and intimate matter
contained in them shall be handled with proper
discretion and reserve, and that all confidences
shall be respected."

My own reports were included, with my
consent, in the mass of documents which were
transferred to London. As I am not now
publishing complete records, I make this ex-
planation to show that I have made some
slight contribution to the files of the English
S. P. R., and it is possible that the person who
summarizes the contents of all the documents,
or the " serious student " who examines them,
may find in my small portion some good tests
or some few points of psychological interest
which I have not thought best to reproduce
in this volume, my special object being to offer
the running conversation rather than the test
with its detailed explanation and corrobora-
tion.

The reports of my sittings are, therefore,
the property of the S. P. R., and I have no
right to publish without the permission of that
society. On November 7, 1907, the Council
of that body voted to give me permission to
publish extracts from my own reports on the
understanding that I should publish also an
acknowledgment of the permission, together

94 BOTH SIDES OF THE VEIL

with the statement that the Council is in no
way responsible for anything I may say, and
I hereby absolve the Council of the Society
for Psychical Research from responsibility for
any and every word which I publish.

At an earlier date, September 26, 1906, I
received what purported to be a communica-
tion from Richard Hodgson himself, as fol-
lows :

" If you wish to extract anything from those
reports you have my consent to do so and I
hope the consent of the Council."

When scientists first undertook the study of
mediumistic phenomena the particular test was
considered the all-important thing, and com-
paratively little attention was paid to anything
else. More recently, voluminous and charac-
teristic talk on the part of a communicator
has been considered valuable and even eviden-
tial in its way. Professor James H. Hyslop
in his work entitled " Science and a Future
Life " [p. 269] says: " What we must have
is psychological phenomena, and psychological
phenomena of that kind which represents the
systematic mental action natural to the person
whose existence is in question."

Still more recently, even descriptions of life
on the Other Side of the Veil, which of course
cannot stand at all as positive proof of the
truth of the matter, are being sought after,
and I have been told by a leading psychologist

PREFATORY EXPLANATIONS 95

that when we have a mass of non-evidential
matter it will sometime have a bearing on the
value of what is strictly evidential.

I am not offering my communications as
M evidence " in the strict sense of that word.
I am offering them simply for what they are,
expecting that each reader of the first portion
of this volume will peruse or omit this portion
as he sees fit, and that each one will judge of
it for himself. I realize that when I lock my-
self into an " upper chamber " with one other
person only and that person goes into a state
of unconsciousness and talks, what I bring out
as a record of that talk must depend much
for its value upon whatever reputation I my-
self may have for being a truthful recorder,
if I am so fortunate as to have any.

It should be understood that in the latter
years nearly all the communications coming
through Mrs. Piper are in automatic writing.
It is only at an occasional sitting or only for
certain sitters that the communications are
given through the voice. Many prefer the
automatic writing, and for the purpose of
scientific experimentation it is considered, I un-
derstand, more valuable. The writing that
is produced can be preserved as the actual com-
munication and cannot be disputed. How-
ever, the writing itself is not by any means
the whole story, and in order that it be per-
fectly intelligible all questions and remarks

96 BOTH SIDES OF THE VEIL

interjected by the sitter must also be accurately
recorded. Nor is this all. The story is not
then complete unless one knows how to make
notes of and interpret more or less correctly
the various and significant gestures of the
hand, which appears to be sensitive and alive,
as if an actual intelligence were seated in it.
Therefore I cannot see why, either at a voice
sitting or at a writing sitting, much has not
to be trusted to the person who does the re-
cording, although still more perhaps must be
trusted to the person who does the interpret-
ing, in cases where recorder and interpreter
do not happen to be one.

I have a great mass of communications ex-
tending through the years, and can only pub-
lish extracts from them. I have decided that
it is best to confine these extracts almost en-
tirely to communications from one personality,
giving continuous talk, which in a voice sitting
has much fewer breaks than occur in the writ-
ing.

There is not in my case, as exists in many
cases, any special reason why I should with-
hold the identity of the one who has been my
special communicator of recent years, namely,
Augustus Pearl Martin. In fact, it is for the
very reason that he was widely known in both
public and private life in the city of Boston
that I am speaking openly and freely, and

PREFATORY EXPLANATIONS 97

offering communications which purport to have
come from him since his passing out in 1902.
I am also desirous of making my offering with-
out further delay, and before his strong per-
sonality shall have become dim in the memory
of his large acquaintance. I am hoping
thereby to interest people in my subject who
as yet know little about it, or who have hith-
erto taken no special interest in it.

I do not consider that I have any right to
publish this name, however, against the wishes
or without the express consent of the nearest
surviving relatives. This consent I have ob-
tained, as will appear in the following copy of
a letter written by the widow and endorsed by
the son.

769 Morton St., Dorchester, Mass.,

May 10, 1908.
My Dear Miss Robbins: I have no objection
to your publishing the name of my late husband in
connection with your work with Mrs. Piper, if you
choose to do so. I appreciate the great assistance
you rendered him during the last years of his life,
and can assure you that his friendly feeling for you
was shared not only by myself but by all the mem-
bers of my family. I have known of your long-con-
tinued interest in psychical research, and if he were
here to-day I am sure he would trust your judg-
ment in any matter of this kind. I would prefer
not to have details concerning myself or my family

98 BOTH SIDES OF THE VEIL

published, but otherwise you are at liberty to use the
name as you see fit.

Yours sincerely,

Abbie F. Martin.
I most heartily endorse the above.

Everett F. Martin.

There have been anxious inquiries and lov-
ing messages for members of his own family,
but most of these I must omit. Many refer-
ences to other persons also, friends and rela-
tives of my own, must be omitted.

Where there is a decided change in the
subject of the running talk, if it is something
that must be omitted I have indicated the
omission by dotted lines. Omissions of single
words or brief phrases, which do not in the least
affect the sense, some of which are made
merely to avoid repetition, I have not indicated
and must ask the reader to place confidence
in the discretion I have tried to exercise on
these points. Some personal references must
be omitted in any case, and one object for
adopting the method of abbreviating here indi-
cated is to make the record more readable.
The technical report of the automatic writing,
with all its confusions, breaks and undecipher-
able scrawls, is fascinating reading for the
student, but is often, by reason of its unin-
telligible technicality, unattractive to the aver-
age reader.

PREFATORY EXPLANATIONS 99

Further than this it is only necessary for
the uninitiated to remember that all remarks
enclosed in round brackets are my own. All
remarks enclosed in square brackets are not
a part of the sitting but simply my explanatory
notes. All of the remainder of the record
represents what is said by the communicating
spirit.

It hardly seems necessary for me to make
the statement here and at this late day that
the possibility of Mrs. Piper's seeking infor-
mation in a normal way to give out in her
trance was years ago entirely dropped from
the consideration of her case by those familiar
with it. She of course must be more or less
familiar with the names of men who have been
in the public eye. She had only the very
slightest personal acquaintance with my com-
municator when he was living, never having
met him more than once or twice and then
only casually. She has never seen one of my
reports, nor had she any idea up to writhin a few
months of date of publication that I intended
to publish, at which time I obtained her full
consent to publishing whatever relates to her
in this volume.

XI

EXTRACTS FROM REPORTS OF
SITTINGS

SITTING OF DECEMBER 23, 1903

Rector controlling

Art thou here? Art thou present?

(I am.)

In God's holy name we greet thee this day
and this hour. We sent for thee to return
to us that we might make all clear to thee,
bring messages from those who seek thee on
our side and teach thee the divine and holy
will of God. Hearest thou me?

(I do. I am glad I have not been dropped
from the fold.)

Dropped, friend? Not one lamb who
cometh unto us, who seeketh us in the highest,
who have faith in God, will depart from us
or will we allow them to drift from the fold
unprotected or unguided. Thy friends on
this side hath sought thee often.

(Friend?)

Friends. They have sought thee, they have
called us to seek thee, to find thee out, to bring
thee unto us and unto them. Hearest thou
me?

(Yes.)

100

REPORTS OF Sn UNO

Friend, oh those of little faith know not
the workings of the Allwise. ... I am
Rector, servant of God. I bring to thee first
thy friend known as Hiram.

[My old friend of early sittings, who
passed away in 1885, known in old reports as
" H." There was some talk here which I
understood to be by Hiram Hart, but, while
in the earlier years he talked very naturally,
his style being very unlike that of Rector, at
this time the two personalities were so much
alike that I could not clearly distinguish when
one left off speaking and the other began. It
appeared later, however, that Rector brought
Hiram Hart, and the latter came to introduce
the friend who had never before made his ap-
pearance. For he said:]

I am bringing another friend who seeks you,
who knows you as you are. He would speak
also, but the awakening of his soul was the
most remarkable I have ever known. I sought
him and found him. He sought me. We
found each other. We are together. We
clasp hands, we are friends.

(Yes.)

They call him on our side " General."

(I see.)

I know not his other name so well, but he
is known by this and we call him this, and he
is happy but longs to meet you. Do you
hear?

102 BOTH SIDES OF THE VEIL

(Yes.)

Now here comes the General. Will you
speak to him?

(Oh, I should be delighted.)

[What immediately follows I understood
to be the first words that came from the later
acquaintance, who passed out about twenty-one
months previous to date of this sitting.]

The General

I want to see you. I want everything to
be understood between us, and until it is I do
not feel satisfied. Can't you help me? Can't
you see the obstacles in my way?

[A few brief phrases only omitted here.]

Can't you see that God's will was better?
Oh, you are not so weak as I thought in your
belief. Why didn't I know better? Well,
because I was grappling with the world. That
is it.

(Is this Hiram talking, or is he talking for
the General?)

No, he is talking for the General. He is
quoting the General's words. You remember
the little poem,

Tell me, ye winged winds

That round my pathway roar,
Do ye not know some spot —

[Words not all correctly caught here, but

REPORTS OF SITTINGS 103

these are the first lines of the verse he was try-
ing to quote.]

You remember that?

(Yet.)

\ ou remember,

Some lone and pleasant dell,
Some valley in the West,

Where free from toil and pain,
The weary soul may rest?

(General, you used to repeat a lot of po-
etry, didn't you?)

Oh, I forgot, — yes, I did. I have found
that peace, that rest, the beautiful awakening
of the spirit.

I have longed for a talk, with you, but I did
not understand the conditions.

(Yes, I have been only waiting patiently
for you to come.)

You have called for me in your spirit. I
knew it and felt it, but I could not reach down
until the conditions were arranged for it. Do
you know what they all mean ? Perhaps you
know better than I do. But these good
priests [who] opened the way, who showed
me the Light, opened the door for me and here
I am. Would to God you could see me as
I am! I am quite the man that I was, only
my ideas are all changed. They are more
now I think in harmony with your own.

104 BOTH SIDES OF THE VEIL

Oh, it is beautiful, it is ideal, just over the
river, lift the Veil and you know all. Tell
me something of yourself.

But oh, why was I so blind? It was be-
cause of the thickness, the thickness of the
flesh.

(General, do you know what I am doing?)

Yes, I know it well. Do you mean the na-
ture of the work, or the private work?

(I mean this minute.)

This present minute?

(Yes.)

Why, aren't you registering something?

(Yes.)

I can see your hand move and I can see
your spirit, too, so plainly, and the spiritual
hand guides the material hand, and it seems
as though it was registering something. Is
it what I am saying?

(Yes.)

Well, that is natural.

(Well, I guess so.)

That is natural, and how rapidly you
worked with that for me. I shall never for-
get those days.

[This of course refers to the eight years
of association in public office, and especially
to the first five, when I reported hearings, con-
ferences, etc., at which he presided, and also
wrote much at his dictation.]

REPORTS OF SITTINGS 105

And do you remember the last time I saw
you in the body ?

(Yes.)

\ou remember what you said to me? Do
you remember saying M I think you are get-
ting better? "

(I think I said that, that time.)

[I said this many times to him during his
illness, and probably said it the last time I
saw him.]

Yes, you did. You were so hopeful and
you helped me so much, but I could not tell
you all I felt. Do you hear?

(Yes.)

[It was generally understood among those
who were near him that my hope for his re-
covery was stronger than that of any one else,
though no one else knew the ground for my
hope. Strong prophetic statements had been
made to me, regarding future work, etc., which
involved his life, and which, it seemed to me
then, could not possibly reach their fulfilment
if he died.]

Can't you speak to me and tell me some-
thing of yourself?

(I will speak slowly so that I can register
it.)

[" Register " is a term used from the Other
Side, which I adopted.]

All right. Do you remember coming to me

106 BOTH SIDES OF THE VEIL

and telling me about your belief, and do you
remember I said I would like to accept it, but
I did not know, I did not understand?

(I knew that was the way you felt.)

But I felt that all through. I could not
understand it. I do now. What fools we
are ! But those few who seek light and light
is given them are blest, aren't they?

(General, do you remember the very last
words that you said to me?)

The last words that I said were — I think
I said — didn't I say I should see you again
and ask you to come out?

[" To come out " is exactly the right ex-
pression. His home was in the suburbs of
Boston, about six miles from the centre.]

(Well, you expected me out the next day.)

Oh, I said good bye to you. I said " good
bye, come to-morrow," " I shall see you to-
morrow," or something — I can't remember
the exact words, but that is the idea. What
were they?

(The very last words that you said were
" good night." You said that just as [nat-
urally] as though you were perfectly well.)

Yes, I remember saying good bye to you.
I remember thinking, looking forward to see
you again. Then what was the next thing?
Then I passed over —

(Yes.)

— between that time and the time you —

REPORTS OF SITTINGS 107

did not come again. Tell me a little about that.
That may help me to come.

(Do you remember you used to sit in a
chair?)

Oh, yes. I remember one thing, I remem-
ber sitting with a blanket over my knees, over
my body.

[He sat that way nearly all the time day
and night for a year, not being able to lie
down during the greater part of his illness,
and he was rarely without a blanket over his
knees, even in the warmest weather.]

[There is a little further talk here about
the conditions of his illness.]

(General, do you remember — )

How far away are you now from here?
You seem quite a little distance away.

[I had not been quite close to the psychic.
I moved a little nearer and put my hand on
her shoulder.]

(My hand is on the medium's shoulder.)

I suppose it is because the flesh divides us.

(Do you remember that I used to bring
messages through this same channel?)

Oh, I remember there was a friend of yours,
a lady in the body — now who was she? I
can't think what her name was, but she lived
somewhere in some other town, and you used
to go and see her and then come and bring
me messages from the priests who are helping
me now. But I can't remember who she was,

108 BOTH SIDES OF THE VEIL

but I remember the messages perfectly, the
nature of the messages, and they really helped
me. They gave me great encouragement, and
that is all I needed, was encouragement, until
time helped me over.

[Arlington Heights, where Mrs. Piper then
lived, is about eight miles from Boston centre
in an opposite direction from where his home
was.]

What was you going to say about the mes-
sages? Oh I wish you knew how I felt, how
light I am, how I can see, how I can read and
how I can move about, how free I am from
encumbrance, how clear my mind is, how
really supremely happy I am. You would be
delighted for my sake.

(I never wanted to call you back.)

Good! You knew too well how I suffered.
But tell me about the children. I would like
to know a little something about the children.

[There is quite a little conversation here
about members of his own family about whom
he seemed eager to hear, and he asked if I
had been out to his home since he passed
away.]

[About six months after the General died
a grandson about two years of age, who was
named for him, passed away. Another grand-
son was born on Dec. 16, 1903, just a week
previous to date of the present sitting. I
knew only of the fact, did not know what the

REPORTS OF SITTINGS 109

child was named, or whether it was named
at all. But in giving him information about
the family into which this child was born, I
say, referring to the father of the child:]

(And he has got a new baby. Did you
know that?)

Yes, the little one I knew about.
It is just the little details of the material life
which I cannot grasp and [in] which I long
to have you help me, but the actual life, and
the actual life of the children, and all that,
is well known to me, but the details of the
material life I cannot see.

(Do you remember little Augustus?)

Oh, yes. Tell me about him.

(Do you know where he is?)

Well, I know about the little one that came
over. I know him. He is with me and we
are very happy together. But didn't he name
the other —

(I don't know what he has named him
yet.)

Hasn't he called him Augustus? He has,
I am sure, one of the two names. But his
first one is with me.

(Now I don't know whether he has named
him Augustus or not — )

Well, he has.

( — so that will be a good test for me.)

That is one of his names.

(I will find out about it.)

no BOTH SIDES OF THE VEIL

And sometime you can speak with me about
it, but meanwhile I know it is true. But the
little fellow followed me very soon, didn't
he?

(Yes.)

I knew, and I was so glad to have him come,
and he is better off here, much better off. In
fact, it is all right. I have no words of com-
plaint to offer.

[I ascertained afterwards that the new baby
was named William Everett, but his mother
told me that they called him Augustus nearly
all the time. He seemed to take the place of
the little Augustus whom they lost.]

Are you getting along all right in the world ?

[I do not reply immediately.]

(You know I want to take this all down,
and that is why I am a little slow.)

Oh, I see. Well, don't hurry. There is
no hurry in this world. I see a light burn-
ing, and at the end of that light I am talking,
and when the light begins to go out, of course
I must go. That is, I can't talk with you,
but I shall be with you just the same and you
will be conscious of it. Are you getting along
as well as when I was with you ?

(Oh, about as well.)

Do you have to work hard?

(Well, I have to work every day.)

But not any harder?

REPORTS OF SITTINGS in

(No.)

I am glad. I would like to see you a little
free for a few hours in what we used to call
day, and have a little leisure for rest and read-
ing up on subjects concerning the advance-
ments of a higher life, and it would be so much
better if you could, so much more helpful.
And yet the body has to be fed, I know. It
has to be clothed. I know that and don't for-
get those things in my experience, but still
there is a great deal beside that. That is
nothing, that is only the covering.

(Well, I have been told that I should be
free some time, but I do not see much pros-
pect of it now.)

Yes, I do. I see all round you light, which
indicates more rest, less hard work, and that
is the reason why I spoke to you, — if it was
not very near you. It must be, I can see it so
plainly.

Will you tell me now if you are really hav-
ing any rest?

(A little in the evening, that is all.)

Work all day?

(Yes.)

Isn't it daytime with you now?

(I got off. I got excused.)

But that is something new for you.

(Well, I managed it.)

ii2 BOTH SIDES OF THE VEIL

I mean, it isn't a thing that you — you used
to stick pretty well.

(I would not get off for anything but you,
to come and see you. I would give up every-
thing for that.)

Oh, yes. Are you really physically well?

(I am quite well, and trying to be very
well.)

[I mention some slight physical ailment.]

Well, don't you know you must be out in
the air a great deal. You must go what we
used to call walking, and be out in the air a
great deal, too. You can get out. Don't
confine yourself to the four walls of your room.
Now that is my advice. Can't you go up to
the library? You remember the library. Go
up there and get a little reading matter. Take
the walk to and fro. Go back and read a
little, take in a little study. That will help
us in the work and that is all you need to do.
Eat slowly. Don't hurry so. Take plenty of
time and be careful what you do eat. That
is my advice to you. I am a little weak just
now and my thoughts begin to tremble.

(Are you speaking through the medium, or
is Hiram interpreting for you now?)

Hiram is doing it for me. I could not take
possession of the medium yet.

(Can you do it some time?)

Yes, but not just now. I am trying to un-
derstand the laws and the workings of the

REPORTS OF SITTINGS 113

machine, and they put me up here so I could
see. Just like a schoolboy being sent to the
board to figure out a multiplication table. I
am set up here, I am held here, and there are
three clergymen, one behind me and one on
either side of me, holding me up here and tell-
ing me to talk, and I am talking to Hiram,
and Hiram is repeating it after me, and I am
trying to do a sum in geometry. That is just
what I am trying to do. And since I am not
fully equipped in that problem perhaps you
can understand something of the difficulty.

(I think you are doing wonderfully well.)

But I can hear you, and so long as I can
hear you and get my thoughts over the line
clear, that is all I want.

(General, as far as I have heard, you have
done wonderfully well for the first time.)

They have been preparing me for months
and months to make me understand it. They
have put me up here and taken me away again.
They have held me up and showed me the
Light, and said, " do this and do that, and see
this and see that," and shown me the details,
and the ins and outs and the whys and where-
fores, and why shouldn't I learn something
after having it hammered into me all that
time. Then I said, well, I must reach her.
It is an utter impossibility for me to [let go?]
until I do. [I will] move heaven and earth,
but I must reach her. And they said:

ii4 BOTH SIDES OF THE VEIL

11 Wait, you have got to learn. You must go
here with us, you must stand on this side, hold
up your hands, bow your head, speak in this
kind of a way, speak slowly, articulate distinct-
ly,"— but without the preparation there is a
good deal of confusion. But they are very,
very good to me, and they know — what they
don't know about the details of this Light is
not worth knowing, I assure you that, if you
can grasp me. With your clear mind you can
grasp it pretty well, I think.

[There is some talk about the private work
and he expresses himself very emphatically.]

(General, you are just as positive as you
used to be, aren't you?)

[The psychic seemed to smile.]

Perhaps you would not recognize me if I
was not. Well, I have retained my individ-
uality, thank God. Do you know where
Poland is, Poland [hesitating only a moment]
Springs?

(Oh, I guess I do.)

Do you remember about it?

(Yes, indeed.)

Well, I don't think anybody except our-
selves —

(Why, they know where it is, of course.)

But I mean I had an interest in it. I
mean I loved it.

(I know you loved it much.)

You might go there some time. You

REPORTS OF SITTINGS 115,

know it came into my mind as soon as could
be.

[The place where the famous Poland
Spring is located is the one spot on earth that
he loved. He was born about three miles
from the hill on which the large hotel now
stands. He was always supplied with the
water and thought it the finest water in the
world. There was no thought of the place in
my mind when he made reference to it.]

Here is little Augustus. Don't you see
him?

(Is he here?)

Yes, as happy as a bee, just as busy. He is
a dear little fellow.

(Give him my love if he understands it.)

Well, I will. He will be glad to have it.
Do vou remember rubbing my arms?

(Yes.)

Well, they don't need rubbing any more,
thank God.

Now before I get too weak — you know
this is quite an effort for me for the first time
— before my thoughts begin to wander, have
you got any especial question you wish to ask
me about my life, about anything —

( Well, General, I want you to try and think
up some of the details of the last moments, or
rather, after you passed out, the first few
days.)

[I referred to details of what happened

n6 BOTH SIDES OF THE VEIL

with me, or at his home, but my question is
not clear.]

I know what it was. When I first passed
out my mind was cloudy, rather confused. I
felt as though I was going into space, did not
know where, drifting as it were, for a few
hours — that was all — and then I felt as
though there was a strong hand grasped me
and said to me: "It is all right, it is all
over." And I said: "What is over?" I
could not seem to understand what it all meant,
and after a little while, perhaps an hour, pos-
sibly an hour or two, I saw oh such a light !
You cannot imagine it, cannot conceive what it
is like. It is the most brilliant and yet the
softest moonlight that you ever saw, and I
thought, what a beautiful light it was! And
all of a sudden I saw people moving about. I
saw their heads, their figures. Then they
seemed all clad in white, and I could not seem
to make them out. They were moving in the
air.

And I said: "What is this place?
Where am I ? What am I ? What has hap-
pened?" It was all such a puzzle to me.
When I get strong I will tell you about it. I
can't tell you any more. Now what you want
me to do, think over the few days —

(Before I come again, I mean.)

— and when I come back, to tell you what
my experience was. I tell you one thing, the

REPORTS OF SITTINGS 117

clergyman who is talking for me now was the
best friend I ever had, and he said: " Come
along, it is all right, I will show you the way;
it is all right, you will get over this confusion
in a minute, and I will help you." And I
said: "Who are you? What are you?
What are you here for? Where am I?
Where am I going? What am I doing?
What does all this mean?" He said:
" Never mind, it will all be clear to you in a
few minutes. Just wait patiently and come
with me." And he stood ready to welcome
me.

(Well, who was he?)

Well, his name is Hart.

(Oh!)

He says : " I know who you know, you
know who I know, now we will be friends to-
gether, and this is all right; I have had ex-
perience and I know, and I will explain it to
you in a few minutes." I thought I saw the
doctor bending over me and I wanted him to
get away. He seemed to be in my way as I
was going out. I wanted to get away from
him, and all of a sudden I was going through
this misty, cloudy way, and then I went past
[possibly " fast," word not caught] until I
got to this light, and it was like going up, up,
up in the air, in a balloon as it were. You
could not conceive of anything more strange
and beautiful, in a sense — the confusion was

n8 BOTH SIDES OF THE VEIL

not so beautiful, but because it was so I could
not seem to retain my consciousness and could
not seem to be released from the burden that
hung over me, and all of a sudden, the moment
I realized that this hand was on my arm, then
I began to see clearly; and from that moment
I have been advancing and going on, and I
have seen everybody I ever knew, and I have
had the happiest time you could imagine. I
have a mansion all my own and live in it just
the same as you live in your place there, just
the same. I have walls, I have pictures, I
have music, I have books, I have poetry, I
have everything.

(I see.)

It is not a fac simile of that life, but that life
is a miserable shadow of what this really is,
and when I get strong, as I become stronger,
and, — that is, more accustomed to using this
line, I can tell you more clearly about it.

Well, it has been, oh, I can't tell you what
it means to me to see you. I can't tell you
how you have cleared my mind. I can't tell
you what you have done for me. Now I am
going to repay it all back by turning and work-
ing for you.

[It was early morning when the General
died. His doctor was not present. Two of
his sons were present and must have been
bending over him, for as they were helping
him back into his chair which he had left for

REPORTS OF SITTINGS 119

a few moments his strength gave way en-
tirely and he passed out shortly after.

Hiram Hart was not a clergyman in this
life, but he came in time to be spoken of at the
sittings as such and I was told that he had be-
come one. Although he passed out nine years
before I became acquainted with the General,
he seems to have been the latter's guide
through the misty passage that separates the
two worlds.]

I think I shall have to go. How long have
I been here?

(Nearly an hour.)

An hour in the earthly world? Well, I
don't know how long that is, but I am too
weak to remain; that is, I am afraid I can't
use this Light any more.

[A few words of farewell. Then, in a
most natural, persuasive tone, as if addressing
a child:]

Come, Augustus, you come with me, dear,
and we will go and find some play toys. We
will have a good time together. Come with
grandpa, come along.

[Then as if addressing me:]

He is going.

Rector returns

It is I, Rector.

(I am glad to see you, Rector.)

120 BOTH SIDES OF THE VEIL

I have returned, friend, because our Leader
said to me to keep the passageway clear and
keep all right. Friend, all is right in thy
world with us this day. Thou hast good con-
ditions for us. Art thou aware of it?

(I am glad to know that.)

[I had a long talk with Rector, during
which I asked:]

(Is the General coming here much through
this medium?)

At times he is. He is a marvelous person-
ality and he has a very clear mind, and he has
a very earnest desire to work for God and
humanity.

[It must be remembered that the spirit
known as " Rector," the so-called " control,"
always appears at the opening of a sitting and
again at its close. Sometimes there are long
conversations with him, much spiritual advice
and help is given, and quite often messages for
other persons are received by the sitter, or
messages from other persons are delivered by
the sitter to the trance personalities.]

Close

SITTING OF MAY 24, 1904

[Soon after the opening of this sitting Rec-
tor introduced to me a personality purporting
to be a physician, who held a long conversa-
tion with me in regard to my health. He told

REPORTS OF SITTINGS 121

me that he formerly lived in Boston, that he
was in Paris when he passed out, that he had
been gone possibly a year or two. I after-
wards ascertained that a physician by the name
given, one with which I was not familiar, had
lived on Beacon St., Boston, and died in Paris
early in the preceding September. This ex-
plains reference to " the doctor " in opening
remarks below.]

The General

[Psychic coughing]

Well, I wonder if there is anybody wishes
to see me !

(Hiram?)

No, my name is Martin. I want to see
Miss Robbins. Is she present?

(Is this you, General?)

It is ... I am delighted to see you,
that goes without saying. Well, how are
you?

(Oh, I am pretty well.)

You look, splendidly. I saw the doctor, I
met him. As I came in he was just going out.
By the way, I want to give you a bit of advice.
Whatever you do in that world, don't overdo.
You know I was a great one to preach.

(Well, no, I don't think you were.)

Well, that makes me laugh. You know I
don't think I did preach very much, but I am
going to preach now. I am going to tell you

122 BOTH SIDES OF THE VEIL

to take care of yourself and the Lord will take
care of you. What are you doing?

(Now I want to take down every word that
you say and what I say.)

Well, you can do it, you are equal to it. I
will try to be as slow as I can. Well, are you
pretty well ?

(Yes, pretty well, I am going to be better.)

You want to get some of these friends over
here after you. I have been studying into this
thing, studying the laws of our nature — that
is, its problems on our side — and I am per-
fectly delighted with the conditions. I am
perfectly delighted with the thought of return-
ing. I seek you out and follow you night and
day. I am often standing by your side when
you don't realize it, and I stand there and
laugh at myself to see how utterly unconcerned
you are in regard to my presence, but I say but
if her spiritual eyes could open and she could
see me as I am I know she would be delighted.
By the way, haven't you a sister?

(Yes.) m

She has just passed through some sorrow in
the earthly world?

(Yes.)

What has been her sorrow, her loss, has
been somebody else's gain. Because she had,
well, I think it is a husband — ...

["I have a sister whose husband passed out
in the early part of this year, only a few

REPORTS OF SITTINGS 123

months previously. I have other sisters, but
do not live with any of them. This particular
sister had just been spending some months
with me. My communicator had met her
once or twice only in life, and was not at all
well acquainted.]

[I think I asked at this point if he was talk-
ing through Rector, my question not being
recorded.]

Oh, Rector is holding the Light. I could
not, they would not allow me to do that. Not
quite now, but I may be able to later. But
they have to support the Light, some friend
has to look after it.

(Do you want me to tell you a few things,
just the same as if you were here?)

Just the same. How is Everett, by the
way?

[Everett is one of his sons, now living.]

(Everett is well. I saw him a few days
ago and took supper with him and his
family — )

[Interrupting]

I know it. I know about the children.
You know there is a little one over here. We
are very friendly with each other, and just as
near to each other as we ever could be.

[There is more talk about his son, and I
ask:]

(When do you think it would be well to
send a message to him?)

i24 BOTH SIDES OF THE VEIL

I think it would be perfectly safe to do it,
— well, we will say in a few months.

[Further talk on same line]

Don't you remember the talks we used to
have together about this thing? And then I
was a little skeptical, I could not seem to take
it in. But I have taken it in to my satisfac-
tion.

[I relate to him a story of something that
transpired during his last illness, of which he
was entirely ignorant, something which in-
volved a reference to a number of his old
friends, most of them well known public
men.]

(Do you think you would remember any of
the names if I should mention them?)

I think I should. Many names have gone
from me, naturally, and new ones have come
up to me. Names of places, names of people
whom I knew in the mortal world, have gone
from me to a certain extent, and as I go on
they go still farther from me, but I shall never
forget you. I remember when I was suffer-
ing so, I remember the little councils we had
together, and they have lasted in my memory
and will to the end of all life.

(General, it seems to be the real spiritual
sympathies that you remember only — )

Yes, well, those are the vital ones, those are
the real ones. And when you understand
better the conditions of life and the conditions

REPORTS OF SITTINGS 125

of passing from that life to this, the changes
in the life as it were, you will understand more
clearly what that means. But until then it
will be difficult for you to understand it
fully. I have got to go out a moment — you
will excuse me — I must go for a little change.
My thoughts begin to wander, and if I stayed
you would be displeased with my wandering
thoughts, so I will just go out and get re-
freshed and return instantly.

[Silence for perhaps a minute, possibly not
as long]

Are you still here?

(Yes.)

I feel better now. I want to know about
the help to my family. What help have they
now ?

[Some talk about family omitted.]

(You remember that you thought you knew
the name of the new baby, and you said it was
Augustus; well, it was not Augustus, but
the mother told me that they called him
Augustus nearly all the time — )

Yes, that is what led me — what is his
name?

(It is William Everett. They call him
Augustus when they speak about him.)

I heard it so much I felt sure it was his
name. Now I want to know how you are
getting on and what you think about our
writing that book.

126 BOTH SIDES OF THE VEIL

[Immediately reverts to family again.]

(General, shall I tell you one or two more
things before you speak of the book?)

Yes, you might.

(There was a man in the State's prison —
you know — you used to see him sometimes
with your old friend Chase — )

Oh yes!

( — and when you passed away he found it
out and got together a dollar or two and gave
it to some one and asked him if he would buy
a rosebush and put it on your grave. I wrote
him a letter after that about it, and now he is
out of prison, and he came to see me to thank
me for the letter and express his admiration
and love for you.)

That is very beautiful, very beautiful. I
am very glad to hear that. Who was he ?

(Oh, he was some old burglar or some-
thing, nobody that you cared anything
about — )

[I apologize to-day, 1909, to whom it may
concern, for this thoughtless reply.]

But had a heart?

(Yes, had a heart. Now do you remember
how you used to lecture on Gettysburg?)

Oh, yes, I do, yes I do very well.

(Well, after you went away I got your
speeches and put them together and made a
nice good complete copy, as well as I could,
and your wife has one of them and I have one.

REPORTS OF SITTINGS 127

Did you know anything about it when I was
doing it?)

Well, yes, I knew the outline, but the work
itself, the actual work as it was going on, I
could not fathom. But I knew the work
concerned my mortal life and things that
transpired in it. But the nature of it I could
not define. We know generally what takes
place in a general way, but if we were to define
it, condense it and give utterance to it, it would
be difficult. But such is the law of this life.

Remember, now, if you could see me you
would say I was a mere film, and you would
say. ' how transparent and peculiar and how
light and how strange you look to me; ' and
you would say, 'where is your body? you
look like a shadow, as it were,' but still I could
talk with you, we could converse with each
other, and you would be surprised to see how
real I am. The passing out is really beau-
tiful, just after you once get beyond the
border, it is perfectly beautiful. You know
the meaning of the word heaven? Well, it is
heaven indeed. But the coming back is a
little confusing at first and we have to learn.

(I think you are good to come back from
such a place.)

Well, I have attractions and you seek for
me and I find you. Don't get nervous, keep
calm, we shall have time to say all there is to
say.

128 BOTH SIDES OF THE VEIL

(Did you know anything about your funeral
at the time?)

Yes, I knew it and saw the body and saw
the flowers. I saw the way in which it was
laid out. I saw — don't you think it looked
well ? I looked as though I was asleep, don't
you think so? And I don't think the face
showed suffering — that is, the clay did not
show the suffering, the body itself — but I
felt, oh, I was so pleased to be out and away
from the atmosphere, I felt so choked and so
distressed for breath, and the moment I was
released from the imprisoning body then I
could breathe perfectly. I felt, — I could not
describe it to you.

(Well, you had a beautiful funeral and a
large one, and do you remember your old
friend Horton, the minister?

[Rev. Edward A. Horton, who conducted
the funeral service. They were familiar
friends.]

Yes, yes, very well.

(I wrote him and thanked him for all he
said, and thanked him for you, too. Was
that right?)

Beautiful, that is beautiful! What did he
say?

(Oh, he wrote me a very nice letter, and he
said if I was satisfied he thought it must have
been satisfactory to others, because I was so
close to you and knew you so well.)

REPORTS OF SITTINGS 129

That is beautiful. I can only say to that,
Amen.

[Only one or two remarks of a personal
nature omitted here.]

(Now I will let you say what you want to.)

I want to say this, that when you arc work-
ing I sometimes dictate thoughts to you, and
it is surprising to me to see how clearly you
register them, and I think sometimes you are
surprised to think that you have done what
you have, and if you just stop and give me a
thought you would know why it was that you
did those things, registered those thoughts.
Sometimes there seems to be a barrier between
you and your thoughts, they are not clear, and
they seem to be a little obscure, and then they
clear up [marvelously], and you have always
attributed that to the condition of your own
brain, and now if you just give me credit for a
little bit of help you would do the right thing.
Not that I am egotistic, but the point is that I
am really with you. And I want to say one
thing, that you have not grown old in spirit
and not in the flesh. It looks so clear to me,
so free, so bright and so young, and I think
your body looks the same. I can't see much
change. Yes, I think you look about the
same. I can't see the body so clearly as I can
the spirit.

(Do you know how old I am?)

[A brief talk about age omitted. He

130 BOTH SIDES OF THE VEIL

thought me older than I then was. It was
evidently the comparison of ages which carried
him back to old associations, for he immedi-
ately followed it by saying:]

You remember how we used to talk in the
office there? Where is that office now? Is
it there? Is the building gone away?

[Referring, I presume, to the office of the
Board of Police in Pemberton square.]

(Not that I know of. You mean where we
were so long together?)

They are going to remove it and put another
in its place.

[This matter was talked of as long ago as
when he was there, and I think he had plans
in his own mind for a new building. The
particular building in which the old office was
located has not yet (1909) been replaced by a
new one, although new large buildings have re-
cently gone up close beside it.]

(They had to get another lady there,
couldn't get along without the ladies.)

I know they did. That is very funny. Do
you ever see anything of Hanscom ?

(Oh, why yes, — I don't see him often, but
he has a good place there and is well and
comfortable. I am so pleased that you should
think of his name.)

I could not help thinking about him. All
of a sudden I thought of him, and I have seen
him several times since I passed over. I have

REPORTS OF SITTINGS 131

seen him discussing something there with
another man in the office, and my mind re-
verted back to the office and the conditions
until I happened to think of him. He was
not well at one time, but he is better now —
that is, since I passed over.

(Perhaps you like him better than you
used to?)

Because I see his principles.

(I don't believe you quite understood him.)

I didn't.

(But I did better than you did.)

Yes, . . . but I did not understand
what his active principles were. If you have
an opportunity I wish in an indirect way, if not
direct, I wish you could mention me to
him, will you? Tell him that you have met
me.

(Perhaps I might have him call on me, but
I don't want to give too much of you away,
you are too precious, but I think he would be
pleased to hear what you have said about
him.)

Well, tell him that I appreciate all his ef-
forts and everything that he did a great deal
better perhaps now than ever. And I would
like to have you tell him that for me. I don't
want people to think that you are losing your
mind, but I think you are far more capable of
keeping your mind by finding me perhaps than
others, than some of those who perhaps would

132 BOTH SIDES OF THE VEIL

not listen to it. So we will keep that a secret
between ourselves.

(You better leave that to my discretion,
about seeing him.)

I will.

[Orinton M. Hanscom was formerly one of
the higher officials in the police department.
In 1888, after a protracted hearing on charges
preferred against him, and a decided disagree-
ment among the members of the board in
regard to the case, he was discharged from
the force. I have memoranda in shorthand
under date of December, 1888, to the effect
that Dr. Phinuit, the early control of Mrs.
Piper, predicted to me that Mr. Hanscom
would sometime go back to his old position.
In March, 1889, the prediction was repeated,
that he would go back to his old position or to
his old surroundings. He was out of the de-
partment six years. In 1894, after General
Martin became chairman of the board, his
case was reopened and he was reinstated in
the department, being appointed to a higher
position than the one he formerly occupied,
namely, that of deputy-superintendent. There
had formerly never been more than one deputy-
superintendent, but now two more men were
given that ranking, Mr. Hanscom being one
of them. The General, therefore, had shown
himself very friendly to Mr. Hanscom, but
wrhen, after the reinstatement, they came to be

REPORTS OF SITTINGS 133

actively associated, I think there was a feeling
of disappointment on the part of the General
in Mr. Hanscom. The latter was a man of
rather broad outlook, with ideas of reform,
which he liked to discuss, but his ideas did
not always seem to be appreciated by his
fellows or superiors. The General wanted
his orders put into effect quickly, even though
they might be difficult of execution. There
was, therefore, this lack of harmony between
the two men, which was perfectly apparent to
me at the time. Therefore the remarks of
my communicator given above, to the effect
that he did not understand his active principles,
but that he appreciated all his efforts now
better than he ever did before, wishing to be
remembered to Mr. Hanscom, are extremely
pertinent. Some time after date of this sitting
I met Mr. Hanscom accidentally and gave
him the substance of the message, which he
received with the courtesy habitual to him,
refraining from criticism. Since then he has
himself passed away. *]

1 Since the above was written Mr. Hanscom has pur-
ported to return. This occurred at a sitting which took
place on Dec. 16, 1908. The communications were sud-
denly broken off and I was told that a friend wanted
to speak to me. I had no thought of any one but
Hiram Hart, who I presumed was interrupting for a
word of greeting. Rector stumbled a little over the
name, but only a little, calling it " Hanson." Not till that
moment did the thought of Hanscom enter my mind. I
asked Rector to get the name exactly, and he spelled it
out easily and correctly: "Hanscom — Orin. Don't

134 BOTH SIDES OF THE VEIL

[In conversation about my private work,
where it would be best to spend my vacation,
etc., I say:]

(Greenacre, — don't you remember I used
to go there?)

I should approve of that at once, and sanc-
tion it.

[Reference to Greenacre will appear in a
later sitting.]

Do you remember a woman you used to
talk to me about in the body who used to
have, — the spirits used to speak through
her?

(Yes.)

[This refers, of course, to Mrs. Piper.]

Well, I want you some time to be in her
surrounding when I am not speaking and see
if I can reach you, see if the thoughts will be
clearer to you. I think it would be worth
while to try it, because I often reach over the
line when I don't speak.

(Do you mean when the Light is not
working?)

you remember Orin?" It did not occur to me until after
the sitting that the Christian name should have been
" Orinton " and not " Orin." I do not know whether his
intimate friends called him " Orin " when in life or not,
but it is quite likely they did. There was a very brief con-
versation. He said : " What a happy ending to a
blighted career ! " Mrs. Piper, in her normal state, faintly
recalled the name as that of some one whom she had
heard spoken of, but said she did not know that he had
passed to the Other Side. His death occurred in No-
vember, 1907.

REPORTS OF SITTINGS 135

When the Light is not working, when it is
closed.

(We were together a while ago in an
evening, but then there were a good many
people about.)

I mean quietly, when there is nobody about
except the spiritual intelligences and when we
are not actually acting upon it, and I think
ideas would come to you very clearly.

[I cannot say that any special experiment
on my part was made in accordance with this
request. Opportunities to be with Mrs. Piper
alone, when not in trance, were rare with me.]

I have got to go out to get my breath. I
will be right back in a moment, but I have to
refresh myself.

[While the General is apparently out,
Hiram Hart steps in, speaking hurriedly as if
he had only a moment, and saying that he saw
the other gentleman " going out," so thought
he would " come in " and say " how do you
do." As he appears to be going I say: " Oh,
have you got to go?" He replies: " Oh,
they have kept him so clear I want him to
learn what I know." The other gentleman
then returns.]

Well, I am right back here again. I met
Mr. Hart and he told me he just wanted to
speak to you a moment while I was refreshing
myself, so I said " go ahead and ask Rector if
you can get in." Wasn't he a clergyman?

136 BOTH SIDES OF THE VEIL

(He was not here, but he says he is now.)

Well, he is preaching and praying and help-
ing all the people that come over this side —
or the spirits — and he is a wonderful
preacher and he has done a great deal for me,
and I am glad to know him because he was
your friend. They say it is not all gold that
glitters, but there is a great deal glitters here
that is gold.

(Well, he seems to admire you. He says
you are very handsome.)

[Laughing]

Well, I suppose he thinks so.

(You used to be here.)

Oh, you think so? There is no accounting
for tastes, you know. But we have to accept
those things. He is a good soul and I like
him. He has done, I say, a great deal for me,
pointed out the way a great many times.

(Now, General, I will let you say what you
want to, but you were going to tell me some-
thing,— what happened just after you went
out, either on this side or on your side. Give
me some new ideas, will you?)

Yes, I will. You know the actual passing
out of the body, there is a little feeling
of, sort of depression, as it were, and then
when I passed out, just as I passed out,
I began to feel uplifted. I felt as though
the air was filled with perfume, and I was
[soaring], rising, rising, rising above my

REPORTS OF SITTINGS 137

body until I passed behind simply a veil.
It is thin. It blinds your vision. It ob-
structs the vision for a moment from the
earthly world. Then after we have passed
beyond it, why the music, the flowers, the
trees, the birds, the lakes, the rivers, the
hills, the gardens, the walks, are perfectly
magnificent, perfectly magnificent, and nothing
in the earthly world hardly can even
correspond to them. And we are taken up by
perhaps a priest, or man that acts in the ca-
pacity of whaf you would understand as a
clergyman, and they say: " This is a state of
transition. You are now in the real life, in
the new life. You will not see the face of the
Father for many, many years, but He will give
you strength and power to go back if you wish
and see those whom you have left behind."
And the feeling of ecstasy is beyond descrip-
tion, and no spirit that ever returned to earth
could begin to describe it for the understand-
ing of the mortal mind.

And then I was surrounded by friends, by
acquaintances, by old war veterans, by my in-
timate friends whom I know, members of my
family and all, surrounded by them, wel-
coming me. Why, I felt as though I should
be enveloped by them, the delight was so
great, but when I tried to call them by name
I was at a loss to do so. They had to tell me
who they were. I knew their faces, not one

138 BOTH SIDES OF THE VEIL

failed to me. I knew them and understood
them well. I saw them and recognized them,
but to call them by name, believe me, I could
not. And when I tried to speak I found in-
stead of it being an effort and difficult for me
to speak, I found that my thoughts were un-
derstood, actually understood, and their
thoughts were returned to me. There was a
perfect communion between us.

And then I was taken — would you believe
it if I should tell you? I was taken to an
actual mansion. It would be what you would
call a palace. There is a garden, walks about
it. It is divided into rooms, actual compart-
ments. I was taken to that and [they] said:
" Here is your home; occupy it, live in it; have
what friends you choose with you, what rela-
tives you choose with you, and as those whom
you have left behind follow you, you may
welcome them to this home as you may see fit."
Do you understand it?

(Yes.)

I went in and looked about me. I said:
"Where does this music come from?" I
walked through a corridor and turned into a
room at the right and actually walked without
fatigue, without effort; I simply glided in. I
saw beautiful pictures upon the walls, I saw
beautiful flowers that we called in the body
palms, growing about me. I heard this beau-
tiful music. I stepped along to a window and

REPORTS OF SITTINGS 139

looked out, and under the window there were
fifty young, beautiful faces, all playing, — an
orchestra. That was my welcome, that was
my serenade, as it were. And they said:
' This is heaven, this is the spiritual world.
We greet you." I went to the window and as
I looked out upon the orchestra they each one
bowed and waved their hands, and yet the
music continued. They were playing upon
instruments, actual instruments, all in har-
mony, and I never heard anything like it in the
earthly world. The music was divine. I
said: " I would like to go elsewhere." I bade
them good-bye, as it were, — I just saluted
them and passed along across the corridor
back through the room, across the corridor
into the opposite side.

I said: " Now I would like to see if it is
possible, I would like to see flowers about me."
I went to the window, and would you believe,
the flowers appeared to me in masses, en masse,
I might say, and I never saw such flowers.
There were lilies, roses, violets, geraniums,
carnations, azaleas, hyacinths, tulips, poppies,
of every conceivable description, not all inter-
mingled, but each one in its own place. What
could you find, what could one wish for bet-
ter than that?

I said: " Now if it is wise and right that
I should seek it, I would like to hear some-
thing that sounds like the voice of a bird."

140 BOTH SIDES OF THE VEIL

They said: " Come this way." I was sur-
rounded by these beautiful friends and by
clergymen — a good many clergymen there
and they said some beautiful things — and
they said: " Come to this window and see."
But I said: " May I not hear them here? "
I listened. In a moment the air was filled
with the music of the different birds. Well,
you have no conception of what that melody
was like. I saw the birds. The birds were
just as distinct, much more so than your own.
The flowers are real, and as I go back to the
mortal life and see the crudeness of it and see
how I lived, the active energy and the active
life that I then led, the energy which I put into
that life, I wonder that I ever existed in it at
all. Now you are not living in the real life.
You are living in a dream, as it were. When
you waken from the dream you will live, in the
eternal life.

[At this point an acount is given of his
asking to know something about Christ, to
know whether he had been deceived in the
earthly world in what he had been taught
about Christ, and a description is given of a
certain vision that was vouchsafed him. I
have thought best to omit this whole passage,
except to say that at its close he exclaims :]

And I live to tell you of it!

I walked about, I felt, — it was strange I
had no hunger, no thirst, no desire to eat, no

REPORTS OF SITTINGS 141

desire for food, but I am sustained by the con-
ditions of the elements. The condition of
the elements is such that we are fed and
sustained and live by them. You can under-
stand it perhaps vaguely if not clearly. You
have a wonderful power to understand, or
used to have. I think perhaps you can picture
me and picture my home and picture my sur-
roundings. At least, I make it as clear as I
can for your understanding.

Now would you like to ask me any ques-
tions? Interrupt me if you wish to.

(Well, what do you do mostly with your
time?)

Well, now I will tell you. What would
correspond with your morning — we have no
morning, — that is, it is all morning in a sense,
in a way, — there is no daylight and darkness
with us, it is all daylight — and what cor-
responds with your morning — I find that
there are always entering into this life, there
are spirits entering constantly from your life,
and each one needs help, needs to be shown the
way, and I enter the multitude, the throng out-
side of my own home; I pass through, I see the
veil uplifted, I see a spirit passing in, perhaps
millions of spirits. And I was told when I
entered it that I must make this life here useful
by helping others and by reverencing God,
offering up gratitude in a prayerful spirit to
Him who created me and gave me the

i42 BOTH SIDES OF THE VEIL

privilege of this life here. And I do that
through the so-called day, without fatigue,
with perfect delight, assist some one spirit or
more who have left the body and entered this
life. And until they are fully conscious and
realize where they are — some are taken from
us, we are not allowed to see them at all, they
are taken into another sphere; those are passed
beyond us, we have nothing to do practically
with them — but there are spirits that enter our
own sphere, and we each lend a hand, show
them their homes, settle them in it, go back
and help another, and we are constantly doing
that.

And then I feel sometimes that I would
like to help in something that corresponds
with your writing. I find in my home every-
thing for which I ask. If I wish pencil, what
corresponds with your pencil, I have it. If
I wish to write my thoughts I can write them,
if I wish to speak them I can do so, and every
thought is granted, every desire is granted.
And if I wish to lecture, as I often do, I can
do so without fatigue, and it is helpful to
those who enter this life. If I wish to write
I can write, if I wish to walk I can walk, if
I wish to sing I can sing, if I wish to speak I
can speak. That makes the life, as you would
understand it, perfect. It is a perfect life.
And in order to live this perfect life you have
got to live in that imperfect life, and the more

REPORTS OF SITTINGS 143

you undertake to prepare for this life the less
you have to go through when you pass it and
the clearer your thoughts become when you
enter it. Have you got the idea ? Would
you like to ask me anything? There arc in-
struments all about me, everything you can
think of — harps, violins, bugles, trumpets,
horns, pianos, spinnet — do you remember
what a spinnet is? All those instruments.

(They are just the same as our instruments,
only better?)

Only better. Everything is beautiful, and
it is in a way, each article, object, as well as
spirit, is luminiferous. If the eye was opened
to the spiritual and you could see me as I
stand .here talking with you, you could see
every gesture I make, which is copied by
Rector. He imitates me as I speak with you.
You could see me and see my home, you could
see everything that I have in it.

(Then what do you do in the afternoon?)

Then in the afternoon sometimes I write a
lecture, I go out and look at my flowers, enjoy
them; I go and visit others, they visit me. I
learn to play on the instruments, the different
instruments. I am absorbed in music and I
love the flowers and the birds.

Then I feel as though I would like to take
up some intellectual pursuit, and then I begin,
and I am studying with those who have been
here longer than myself the actual conditions

i44 BOTH SIDES OF THE VEIL

of this life and what go to make up the life
here, and as I learn I give it out to others,
interpret my knowledge to others. Therefore
our intellectual capacity is unlimited in a sense,
and constantly being educated. And it is a
beautiful idea, is it not? And then all
through what you would call evening, during
the evening, what would correspond with your
evening, there is chiefly music going on, en-
tertainment and music. Then after that
passes, what corresponds with your early
morning or late in the night, there are lectures
and concerts of all kinds and descriptions go-
ing on, so that our lives are completely filled.
And then during the later hours of the morn-
ing, before what would be your daylight, ev-
ery single spirit on my side of the spirit life
where I am [is] bowed in prayer for what
would be at least two or three hours corres-
ponding with your time, perfect devotion and
a prayer.

(Then you don't have to sleep the way we
do?)

Have no sleep, no rest. What corresponds
with your rest is activity on our part. And
then after the devotional exercises we are ready
for what would correspond with your day for
our work again. Can you conceive of any-
thing more beautiful or more perfect, or more
to the liking of a man with my tastes and
my ideas?

REPORTS OF SITTINGS 145

(No.)

But man should live his allotted time in
the earthly world to prepare to live and to
live in this world, but if he takes his life in-
tentionally or otherwise he remains in a sense
like a little child here, or a germ, and he has
to develop, unfold, bud and flower, and he
must necessarily do so. Ask me anything you
wish. I am so glad to tell you this because
I want you to get some conception of what I
am and what I am doing. This is not an
idle, useless life here, — ah, no, not at all.

(How long does it take for you to come to
me?)

[I meant at any time when I might think
of him or call him, but I evidently did not
make my meaning clear.]

I would seem some distance from you if
you could see me as I am. When you have
a desire to speak with me — there are spirits
here who know every mortal on the face of
the earth; that is, the same one does not know,
but the different ones know every mortal —
and they say: "Here is a friend, I think
she is a friend of yours; there the Light is
beginning to burn, it is open; we have attached
the ethereal cord and we will remove the
spirit from the Light, take it to our world or
out on the cord, attach the cord to the shell,
as it were, fill it with our ethereal light, and
you can enter into it and see if it is your friend,

146 BOTH SIDES OF THE VEIL

and if so follow Rector, follow those that are
used to the cord and go to the end of it and
speak over it to Rector, who is actually within
the shell himself, and he will transmit your
messages to your friend." It takes in all, I
suppose, of your time five or ten minutes per-
haps for me to reach you.

[There is a brief talk about relationships,
and I say:]

(You choose your own friends there, as
here, don't you?)

Just the same.

It has been a perfect pleasure for me to see
you again. Good-bye. God bless you.
Come and see me again. May God watch
over you.

Close

SITTING OF DECEMBER 20, I9O4

[During the morning hours of the date
given above, while my sitting was going on,
another of Mrs. Piper's sitters underwent a
surgical operation of some sort. I had not
been told that an operation was to take place,
nor do I know to-day who this person was.
Rector explained to me that Imperator was
obliged to be absent from the sitting, that he
had left Prudens in charge while he, Impera-
tor, was " over and around the cot " of a

REPORTS OF SITTINGS 147.

member of the circle. Near the close of the
sitting, which lasted two hours, I was asked
to take a message to Dr. Hodgson to the ef-
fect that the operation had gone on well. I
noted the exact time when this was told me
and sent the message to Dr. Hodgson by tel-
egram at the earliest possible moment. I af-
terwards learned that the operation had gone
on well, and that the person operated upon
was much gratified on being told at an early
hour what came from the Other Side of the
Veil in regard to himself, communicated first
to me, by me to Dr. Hodgson, and by the lat-
ter to the person concerned.]

Rector

[During the course of Rector's remarks I
say:]

(Rector, wait a moment. Through whom
is my friend going to talk now?)

He will try and speak direct to thee, if this
be possible; if not I shall remain, as it were,
a non-entity, giving his messages.

(You have allowed him to do that?)

Yes, I have, through the advice and com-
mand of our Leader.

(Now, Rector, my friend is really and truly
here almost exactly the same as if he were in
his own body, is he not?)

Almost the same, and if thy spiritual eyes

148 BOTH SIDES OF THE VEIL

could open thou wouldst see him standing here
beside the ethereal cord, waiting his turn to
enter into the Light upon the cord.

The General

Are you here?

(Yes.)

I am here to meet you. Oh how happy I
am!

(Who is it? Don't be offended, will you?)

[Rattles off some lines of poetry, evidently
some of the same words which came on the
occasion of his first return, Dec. 23, 1903.
I afterwards found the verse which he was
quoting, which is by Charles Mackay, and
runs as follows : —

Tell me, ye winged winds

That round my pathway roar,
Do ye not know some spot

Where mortals weep no more;
Some lone and pleasant dell,

Some valley in the West,
Where free from toil and pain,

The weary soul may rest?

This bursting out into some language which
was rythmical, especially when he was happy,
was most characteristic of him in life.]

Yes, the answer comes to me in the spirit,
I have found it. I have found the rest, the
life, the peace, hope, everything I hoped to
find. . . . Now you know who it is?

REPORTS OF SITTINGS 149

(Oh, I know any way, only I thought I
would just ask you that.)

Well, if you should say " General " I should
be pleased to hear it.

(When I first knew you I could not get used
to calling you " General," but after I did get
accustomed to it I could not call you anything
else, because that seemed to be the right name
for you.)

You thought it applicable?

(Yes.)

Well, that is pleasant. . . . Remem-
ber that the laws of vibration are very won-
derful, very, very great, and my thought
reaches you and vice versa. Therefore, for
what more could I ask? [Something about
his family doing well] My friends are loyal
and I am happy, and the mere fact of my re-
turning and speaking with you is an inspiration
beyond description.

( Well, it helps me more than anything else
I do.)

These good saints have helped me to under-
stand the laws of communication, and I am
not so much of an idiot that I should laugh at
it or pooh-pooh at it further.

(Well, you would better not.)

How can I? The reality, it is a stern real-
ity, and such a reality that it is the only thing
which God hath given us to enable us to un-

i5o BOTH SIDES OF THE VEIL

derstand the laws of the eternal life. Is not
that beautiful?

(Yes.)

Is it not beautiful? And it is the only
way. So the casting off of the mere body,
the shell, is nothing, it is nothing; it goes to
waste, but my spirit lives to speak.

(General — )

Without the wires I could not communicate
so easily, but with the wires my thoughts are
registered clearly, are they not?

(Yes. General — )

Yes?

(You are taking Rector's place to-day,
aren't you?)

For the first time I am, yes. Dear creature,
he is here to help me, he stands beside me
watching me to see that no harm comes to
the instrument over which I speak.

(Well, it is not so very hard, is it?)

No, not hard, but if you were to question
me one question after another it might con-
fuse me, but you ask your questions so clearly,
so slowly and in moderation, that I can under-
stand them and reply. But if you were to
fire questions at me, so to speak, volley after
volley, it would confuse me so I should be
obliged to go out. You understand?

(Yes.)

You look so well. ... I see your
spirit so clearly. I see what I did not use

REPORTS OF SITTINGS 151

to see. I saw the physical and not so much
the spirit. I see the spirit and the physical
both combined. They both seem clear to me
and beautiful. I am glad you followed out
my instructions. I saw you in the place which
I designated.

(Do you know where that is now? What
do you mean?)

I saw you in a place with a lady, a very
beautiful character, a very interesting charac-
ter.

(Do you know who that is, or when it
was?)

It is what we used to call summer, and it
was in a green place, in a green place, and
everything so beautiful, so peaceful.

[I spent several weeks during the preced-
ing summer at a place called " Greenacre,"
in the town of Eliot, state of Maine. It is
sometimes called " Greenacre-on-the-Piscata-
qua." Summer conferences have been held
there for a number of years past, a large as-
sembly-tent is erected on the greensward in-
dicated by the name, and representatives of
all religions are welcomed to the open plat-
form.]

I saw you attending something seemed like
lectures. I saw you conversing with an oc-
casional gentleman, and I saw you sitting —
it looked like a tent —

(Yes.)

152 BOTH SIDES OF THE VEIL

— and saw you walking about.

(Yes.)

I saw you, — was it in a hammock? Some-
thing swinging.

(Yes, once or twice.)

And I saw you sitting there thinking, as it
were, alone, and it seemed as though the shad-
ows of night had fallen, and it was in the
evening.

(Oh, yes.)

[I think it was at this point that I recalled
a special evening. See explanation later.]

And I came and stood beside you and put
my hand on your shoulder, and I heard you
say, "how peaceful, how perfectly delightful
it is." Do you remember it?

(Yes.)

Do you remember seeing the moon? The
heavens seemed dark and then the moon ap-
peared. It was early in the evening. And
then I saw you get up, somebody came and
spoke to you and you got up, walked about a
little and went inside a building.

(I was in this hammock, I think twice, but
one night a long time, and I even fell asleep
there.)

Yes, that was the time when I put my hand
on your shoulder and had the beautiful mes-
sages of peace from your spirit.

(Well, I went to sleep, oh very easily and
beautifully, and I woke up and thought how

REPORTS OF SITTINGS 153

beautiful it was to sleep there under the
stars — )

Yes, stars, that is what I mean.

( — and I even got locked out of the
house.)

Yes, yes, I know there was some difficulty
in your getting in. I know that. And then
I remember the surprise which came over you
when you [recovered].

(Yes, I was surprised.)

And I was with you all through that little
sleep, talking with your spirit. Do you re-
member what a peaceful wave came through
you?

(Yes.)

It was I who sent it, who brought it.

(When I sleep like that it seems as if I
was off somewhere; I am perfectly unconscious
of this world, and where am I then?)

The spirit, your spirit, goes out upon an
ethereal cord, just the same as the spirit of the
Light here departs. Now I see the spirit of
a woman going out, and it is the same in sleep,
and I talk with your spirit just the same as I
am talking with you now. Sometimes I al-
most feel that you will remember it, but when
the spirit becomes active and fully possessed
of the body and mind, then it forgets.

(Yes. Do you mean that is so always
in sleep, or only in those occasional sleeps?)

Under certain conditions, only. The sleep

154 BOTH SIDES OF THE VEIL

might be disturbed if the spirit communicated
with it always, but upon certain occasions and
under certain conditions we are able to talk
with the spirit very, very clearly. The spirit
understands and answers —

(You mean the earthly spirit?)

Yes, just the same as you answer me when
I speak with you now. Why, to know that
I can follow you, to know that I can see you
in certain places and under certain conditions
— and do you remember the tent?

(Yes, yes!)

Well, I saw you under the tent and sat be-
side you several times, and there was another
lady with you. Who was that lady? She
was a beautiful spirit, a bright, beautiful look-
ing woman, a very clear mind and beautiful
spirit. Is her name Sarah?

(Wait a moment. You know I am taking
this all down, don't you, General?)

I do not see what you are actually doing.
I see your thoughts are busy, very busy.

(I want to preserve every word. And it
is so delightful to think that I can write down
in shorthand just wThat you say, just exactly as
I used to do when you were here.)

Oh, yes, I remember, that is what you are
doing. Well, I do not actually see the writ-
ing going on, or the motion of your hand, or
the — paper, is it? But I see you, your gen-
eral outline, and I see you, as it were, in the

REPORTS OF SITTINGS 155

light. You look as though there was a light
all about you.

(Well, now let's be slow.)

That is the reflection of the spirit about
you.

I My spirit?)

Yes, your own spirit. There is a reflec-
tion, as it were, all about you. It is very
clear and very beautiful to me.

(Do you mean Sarah Farmer?)

I should not wonder. That sounds some-
thing like the name I heard her called by.
She was not actually with you, but I saw you
with her and saw you talking with her, and
she has a very large spirit, a very broad spirit,
and a very large and beautiful mind. Was
that not so?

(Miss Farmer is the person who started
that place and who has charge of it and has
gotten all the fine speakers there, etc., and
she is considered a very advanced spirit. Do
you think it was she?)

Yes, it was she whom I saw.

(You know she was not a special friend of
mine, though I know her.)

But I saw another lady, but I saw another
lady with you —

(Well, General, wait a minute, wait a min-
ute. How did you know her name was
Sarah?)

I heard several ladies in a large room one

156 BOTH SIDES OF THE VEIL

— you would call it evening again — calling

— one spoke to her very intimately and called
her Sarah, and I was within — I was perhaps

— let me see — where is your hand?

[The psychic takes my hand and holds it
about a foot from my face.]

I was within that distance, the distance that
your hand is from your face, from her, when
the name was called, and we can hear, and
we can see and understand names as they are
spoken in the body if we are attracted to any
one individually.

(I see.)

And oftentimes the names, if we are in-
terested, register themselves upon our mem-
ories and we never forget them. But to go
back to this evening. Then you got in, didn't
you —

(Yes.) i

— all right, but that was the time when I
saw you very clearly.

(Yes.)

[All the incidents referred to in the pre-
ceding conversation about Greenacre are al-
most literally true, though I am aware that
some of them are simply things which one
would naturally do during a summer outing.
The sleep in the hammock, however, was an
unusual one, and I have rarely, if ever, had
one just like it. The fact is that I dislike the
motion of a swinging hammock and seldom

REPORTS OF SITTINGS 157

lie in one. The evening in question was one
of those still, balmy evenings when it seems
a sin to sleep under other canopy than the
starry blue. I do not remember the moon,
think there was none, or not until very late.
I found an empty hammock a few rods from
the Inn and appropriated it. I remember
thinking how delightful it was to lie there fac-
ing the stars, entirely free from contact with
the earth, a part of the atmosphere around
me. I believe I even felt that I had been in
error all my life thus far in not overcoming
my dislike to the motion of a hammock. I
fell easily into a sleep which must have been a
deep one, and woke surprised to find from the
general appearance of the Inn that it was
late. I spoke with a gentleman who was pass-
ing, and as I remember I addressed him first.
We went on the veranda, where there was one
other person, and found that the Inn was
closed for the night and we were locked out.
Fortunately a parlor window was easily
opened and then the door unlocked from the
inside. I do not remember that I did, and
think I did not, dream anything in the sleep
which I could afterwards recall. I seldom
heard Miss Farmer called Sarah, though that
is her name. I was not specially with her,
but probably spoke with her once or twice
during my stay. I remember going to Green-
acre one summer several years before the Gen-

158 BOTH SIDES OF THE VEIL

eral passed away, returning and telling him
about the place. That he ever heard Miss
Farmer's Christian name spoken is very doubt-
ful. He knew very little about her when liv-
ing-]

(Now, General, why can't I learn to go out
that way in sleep at will, almost?)

Well, it sometimes is not wise, sometimes
it is not healthful, and it rests with the divine
power as to when those conditions are suita-
ble. Perhaps you can better understand that.
I have learned a great deal about the condi-
tions since I have been here, and it has been
my one thought to study into the conditions
and understand them for your sake, that I
might be able to help you. I now see what
a clear beautiful mind you had and why you
were so interested in things which seemed to
me rather absurd.

(Well, I am glad to hear you say that. All
things come to him who waits.)

Yes, that is very true, but in the material
life, in the mortal life, it seemed that I was
unable with my peculiar make-up to grasp any-
thing which I could not see.
(Yes.)

Therefore perhaps you will excuse me for
not accepting your theories, but I lived to learn
and understand for myself. It was a happy-
day when I came. The awakening was some-
thing beyond description. I never can tell

REPORTS OF SITTINGS 159

you how I felt when I woke, and as my spirit
passed up from that imprisoning body, through
the cool ether, and the ethereal veil parted
and my spirit passed through it into this beau-
tiful world, the sensation and the light [de-
light] of it all is beyond my power to ex-
plain, and could I explain it in earthly words
your mind could not really grasp it or under-
stand it.

( Yes. General, you say that you could not
accept things unless you could see them, but I
thought you had a very fine and highly de-
veloped spirit, otherwise you would not have
gone so quickly into the right conditions there
and understood how to come back here, and be
taken in by Imperator and Rector, etc., would
you?)

You realized, I think, that my desire was
for the advancement of mind, and you remem-
ber how I used to love poetry, and that I had
a vein of sentiment, as you used to express it.
Well, all that is fine spiritual perception; and
it is really beautiful to me, now when I realize
that I possessed that at all when in the physi-
cal body, and it has been a great benefactor
to me in this life. You understand what I
mean.

(Yes.)

It has been a great help, a great help to
me, the mere fact of my growing in spirit in
the body, and I really loved the beautiful.

160 BOTH SIDES OF THE VEIL

(General, don't you remember how a beau-
tiful woman used to impress you? Wait a
moment — a friend of yours said once, old
Mr. Clapp, that he did not know any man
who took in the soul of a beautiful woman
any more quickly than you did. We laughed
over it, but I knew it was so.)

You understood it?

(Yes.)

Well, that is very beautiful, very kind in
him to have said it. But I really think that
I do, and know now that I did, I know that I
understood women and the beautiful side as
few men did in my environment or among
my associates. And all those things appealed
to me, and it was that that was highest and
best. All that appealed to me most. And I
was very happy in my earthly life in a way.
I loved life for what life gave, and I loved the
pleasures, and I loved the physical and all
that the physical gave, but still I was large
enough in heart, I feel, and in spirit not to
allow the physical temptations to drown my
soul.

(Yes.).

[This is a very good characterization of
himself.]

(I am of course very greatly blessed and
privileged to have your continued friendship

REPORTS OF SITTINGS 161

and to be allowed to come here and talk with
you.)

Well, there are so many restrictions. This
great spirit, this man here who leads, he is
the noblest spirit I know, and there are so
many restrictions, — he understands the condi-
tions so well, and he has his everlasting eye
open watching constantly that no harm shall
befall anything or anybody connected or as-
sociated with the Light or the spiritual influ-
ences who work through it. Why, it is really
marvelous.

(You mean Imperator?)

Yes. He is not present at the moment be-
cause he is away on a mission, but all those
whom he does call, remember, really are priv-
ileged.

[See note at opening of this sitting.]

(Yes, indeed, they are. Now I want to
ask you to watch, and if you think you are not
going to have any more opportunities to come
to me through this Light, then I want you
to get one final chance if possible and tell me
that you cannot come more. Will you try
to do so?)

Will you repeat that once more for me?
You mean that I must return here — and tell
you before —

[Think I replied yes.]

Oh, yes, — well, I am going to tell you
something. We call them the saints; they

i6i BOTH SIDES OF THE VEIL

told me before I came here, before I asked
them if I might speak with you, they told me
that — the leader, the head spirit — he said
that the conditions were low, but he said:
" I will not go into explanation, but abide by
what I say; the conditions are such that I
must exert all my influence and power to hold
the conditions in a sufficient state of clearness
to enable you to return to your friends on the
earthly side at all." Do you hear?

(Yes.)

And he also said: " By so doing, by doing
this, you will be enabled to return through the
Light occasionally for an unrestricted time — "

(Well, well, well, that is beautiful.)

— " and only under those conditions will
you be permitted to return at all through the
present Light." Therefore he has taken up
the Light and is specially administering unto
it to keep it for those who really need light
and help. Do you understand?

(Yes.)<

Well, if you do not perhaps Rector could
make it clearer to you.

(I do.)

This was a private conversation between
Imperator and myself, and he notified all the
communicators who return through this Light
of the conditions, and were it not for him and
his wonderful power I perhaps should not be
able to return, but so grateful are we to him

REPORTS OF SITTINGS 163

that we offer up our blessings daily and al-
most hourly to him for his guidance and help.
I wish you could see him.

[A few brief sentences only omitted here.]

I know one thing, I know that they all on
our side can see and have predicted the ab-
sence of the Light on the other side of the
water.

[It must be remembered that it was after
the date of this sitting that Dr. Hodgson
passed out. Mrs. Piper spent the winter of
1906-7 abroad.]

[In speaking of a prediction made concern-
ing myself he says:]

Perhaps you had better ask Rector about
that, as he is very clear and understands that
very well; or, better still, George Pelham.
Perhaps you know him ? He has been a great
help to me, a great help to me; although he
is not so near the earth and the conditions
surrounding the Light as I am at the present
time, he really is a great help.

(Is he in another sphere, so called?)

Yes, he is in the last sphere, what you would
speak of as heaven; the last, seventh sphere.

(What sphere are you in?)

I am in the third now. We have to pass
through the third sphere in order to return,
one might say, and therefore I could not re-
turn immediately directly I passed out of my
body.

1 64 BOTH SIDES OF THE VEIL

(Oh, that is the reason, is it?)

Yes. It is just like going from one room
to another. [Illustrated by change of loca-
tion in the material world] We advance
until we feel that we have perfected ourselves
according to God's will and idea, and then we
are satisfied with ourselves, and not until we
have.

(Well, when you first passed out did you go
into the first sphere, or do you call this the
first sphere where I am?)

Entering the material life is one sphere of
life; that is the first, because life comes with
the creation of the mortal body; life comes,
it is the breath of God, and you are a branch
of His great tree, you understand, and then
the spirit grows, advances. Sometimes it does
not advance in the mortal because it is ham-
pered by physical ill, etc. If not, it is re-
moved after a time and enters our life and
then begins to develop and grow.

(Well then do you think every one leaves
here just when it is right for him to go,
whether he is young or old?)

Yes, yes, yes, that is all in the hands of God,
and although we never see God — I have
never seen Him and never hope to — He rules
us all and reigns over us all, and we are a
part, a branch of Him, and your question will
make that clear to me.

REPORTS OF SITTINGS 165

(When any one dies, as we call it, whether
he is thirty or eighty years old, it is the right
time for him, do you think, or is death merely
an accident, the time of death?)

Oh, it is not an accident. It is ordained by
God. I could not understand when I was in
the body why certain things [happened], why
certain deaths took place, and so on, but God
knows what their lives are and what they are
to be should they live. Therefore He re-
moves them perhaps through disaster, perhaps
through accident, perhaps through fire, per-
haps through loss of a vessel, and all that
sort of thing, and He removes many at a time.
But every spirit that enters this life, there is
a home prepared for it and a place prepared
for it. Perhaps you know that in the earthly
Bible, the material Bible, " In my Father's
house there are many mansions;" do you re-
member that?

(Yes.)

That has a literal meaning. . . . The
spirit really never suffers, never knows a mo-
ment's pain or anguish of any kind. I know
this from the — pure experience and study.

(But, General, you are not always, you over
there, perfectly developed, and does not your
happiness depend on your inner development
there as it does here, your degree of happi-
ness?)

1 66 BOTH SIDES OF THE VEIL

Well, yes, to an extent, but we never suffer
as suffering is expressed and understood by
you.

(Yes, I see, I see. How about age there?
How old are you compared with Imperator?
What is the standard of measurement?)

Well, Imperator is — in fact, no spirit is
ever old, there is no such thing as age with us.
We enter this life according to our acts in the
mortal life. If we have advanced and grown
we have gained so much when entering this
life, but if we are hampered by physical ills
or physical infirmities, or perhaps some may
inherit imbecility or something of that kind,
when the spirit leaves the body it enters this
life and grows, in a sense, as a child. It rests,
it is released. The moment it is released from
its body it assumes a condition of happiness,
as it were. There is a peacefulness about it
that permeates the whole spirit, and a certain
power of understanding, and then it advances
and grows until we are — we might put the
age, for your understanding, to fifty, and we
are never older than that in spirit.

(You mean never older than about what
we think of as fifty?)

Yes. The body grows old simply but the
spirit never grows old. The spirit remains
young and beautiful always. No matter
whether the man has passed from the earthly
life through senile decay or through accident

REPORTS OF SITTINGS 167

in youth, that makes no difference; the spirit
is young always. But the conditions of the
spirit and its happiness does [do] depend
somewhat upon his advancement and growth
and understanding and desires of right and
wrong in the physical life.

(Well, supposing I have a friend now who
goes over there, who did not think much of
spiritual development here, could he be where
he could see and talk with you, for instance,
or would he be in a lower plane?)

Well, he would be — for your understand-
ing — he would be in a somewhat lower plane
upon entering this life, but if he has a great
desire to reach me there are certain conditions
through which he must pass in order for that
desire to be accomplished, and if he lives ac-
cording to the restriction and the laws which
are mapped out for him here, then he might
be able to see me in what you might term a
few days. Then his desire would be fulfilled
and he would be made happier in consequence.

(Now, General — )

Yes, I hear every word you say, and you
have the faculty of speaking slowly and dis-
tinctly.

(Yes. When you went away, before your
body was put in the earth, I was called by
the Light known as Mrs. S. I went there
after your body was put away, but she told
me — that is, her control, her spirit guide told

168 BOTH SIDES OF THE VEIL

me — that the day you died — you passed out
in the morning of our day here, and she said
that you might have been around that day but
she was so busy she did not notice you, but
at night you were there and you had on
such an anxious face that she had to listen
to you, and you kept saying, " Send for Anne,
send for Anne." Then when I went a few
days later and talked with her she talked as
if you were really there. Well, she said of
course you did not put it in words, but she
expressed the feeling. Now do you know
anything at all about that, or were you around,
or could you have been around, or could you
have called me in that way? This is a Light
to whom you went once with me when in the
physical body.)

[The psychic known as Mrs. S. sent for me
as explained above, asking if I would like a
sitting, feeling that she ought to comply with
the request of her control, though she had
never before offered me a sitting simply because
her control desired it, and never has since. Al-
though she had seen in the papers an an-
nouncement of the death of my friend, she
assured me that up to that time she did not
know that I had been associated with him in
business, having the impression that my spe-
cial work was to assist Dr. Hodgson. On the
occasion when the General accompanied me

REPORTS OF SITTINGS 169

to a sitting with her, several years before his
death, she was not told who he was and was
not acquainted with him.]

Well, I remember after leaving my body,
the first thing I thought of after leaving the
body, after passing through this ether which
I described and beyond the veil — that is, on
our side of the veil, into this world — the first
thing I thought of was, " Where is Anne? I
will go and find her." I turned immediately
and looked back into the physical world, into
the material world, looked at the physical
body, saw it like so much earth, and I saw
you terribly distressed, as it seemed to me, and
your spirit seemed very downcast and de-
pressed, and I tried to reach you and was very
anxious to do so and very anxious to make
myself understood by you, and if she saw me
she was probably true in saying it, because
that was the first thing I remember of doing;
and the first thought that crossed my mind
was, M I will go and find Anne wherever she
may be and tell her that I am still living and
going on into the eternal life." Therefore I
cannot contradict or disclaim her veracity.

[It was not his habit to call me " Anne "
when living, though it is the habit of returning
spirits to call their friends by their Christian
names.]

(Now will you come to me as well as you

170 BOTH SIDES OF THE VEIL

can whenever I go to see her, and do you think
it would be well for me to go there occa-
sionally?)

Yes, once in a while, but I have learned
from Imperator, who knows all there is to
know and prepares his messengers to give such
light as he deems that they are fitted to give, —
he says too frequent communication on our
side is not wise, and it is wiser for the spirit
to store up its knowledge and learn all the
conditions of its life and then return occa-
sionally, imparting that knowledge to his
friend on the earthly side occasionally, but not
too frequently, as the spirit loses by too
frequent communication.

(I see.)

And it is not well for his best development.

[I tell him something about his old home.]

(I am going out there the evening preceding
the fourth Sabbath from now, if I can. I am
going to listen to the sound of your voice
through the phonograph — )

A speech?

(Yes. Do you remember the phono-
graph?)

Yes, I do.

(There were some of your talks preserved.
There was the remarks of Colonel Ingersoll
at the burial of his brother, there was George
Eliot's " Choir Invisible," there was Bryant's

REPORTS OF SITTINGS 171

11 Flood of Years." Now I am going to
listen to that for the first time since you went
away, and I want you to stand right beside me
all the time, and then when I come here again
you can tell me about it.)

I shall be delighted. That will give me
greater happiness than anything you could ask
me.

[Unfortunately the phonograph was out of
order when I made my visit.]

(Can you stay a while longer?)

Yes, I am listening.

[There is a little talk here about a sister in
the body.]

You have a sister here in this world whom
I have met.

(What is her name, do you know?)

No, — Hiram knows; at the moment I
could not tell you, but he knows, and perhaps
Rector will tell you what her name is. I re-
member I was introduced to her some time
ago, and she is a beautiful spirit.

[This refers to an older sister, named
Laura, who died in 1881, thirteen years
before I became acquainted with my com-
municator.]

Then I have met your father. He was a
peculiar man, wasn't he?

[Brief talk about my own family]

I like your father. He is a very strong

172 BOTH SIDES OF THE VEIL

individuality, and he made his mistakes like
other men in the earthly world, but he is a
true spirit and he loves you all dearly.

[My father was "peculiar," a "strong in-
dividuality," and " made mistakes." He
passed out four years before I knew my com-
municator.]

(Was your mother your guiding spirit all
through your life here?)

Yes, and a dear one she was.

(Did you recognize her as soon as you saw
her?)

She helped me, she showed me the way, she
stood at my chair, the chair I used to sit in,
she stood beside me when I passed out.

(Does she know me?)

Yes, you may rest assured that if I have
had anything to do about it she does know
you.

• •••••

[In speaking of my private work, I say:]
(You must not get discouraged if I get dis-
couraged, will you?)

Not at all. That is not like me, is it?
Didn't I have courage to the last? Ask me
all you wish. My thoughts keep clear, as
you ask your questions so clearly and beauti-
fully that they are not confusing to me. If
you were to say, " Now, General, I want you
to find a name for me, get it now if you can,"

REPORTS OF SITTINGS 173

— in searching for that name, or switching
my thoughts from the track on which they are
flowing at the present time, over which they
are flowing, it would confuse me so that I
should lose the whole thread of my individ-
uality and thought.

The moment I entered this life I was told
by Imperator: " You have just opened your
life and your life is in the beginning. You
have much to do with a friend whom you have
in a sense left behind." . . . Then it
dawned upon me what he meant. I said:
" I know what you mean; you refer to the
actual truth of a vague idea; it is going to be a
reality," — an idea which crossed my mind be-
fore my illness. It passed through my mind,
the thought, before my illness, as I loved
poetry, reading books, like yourself, every-
thing,— it crossed my mind many times, and
the desire that I might be qualified to write.
When I entered this life Imperator pointed
those things out to me. He made it clear to
me that it was possible for me to return and
help you and that we might do this thing
together.

Now of course I cannot say how long the
Light will remain in the body, or what the
conditions are surrounding the Light, but I do
know this, that conjointly and together on

i74 BOTH SIDES OF THE VEIL

earth they have prayed and are praying and
giving peace and restriction to the Light for
a few who are privileged to use it and receive
messages through it. Therefore I am one
who is privileged, for which I am most
grateful.

(Of course I do not want this wholly for
my selfish pleasure. I want it to be of some use
to the world, my coming here to see you.)

It should be, and if others would think, like-
wise there would not be such a vague mystery
about it all, as I used to think when I was in
the body; there was a vague sort of unknow-
able mystery.

(The time is passing. I must not keep you
too long.)

I must not remain too long, but Rector
stands here ready to take me away, to assist
me out, that no harm may befall the instru-
ment through which I work.

Tell me about little Augustus.
(Augustus? Which one?)
I mean the little fellow, the one they called
— it is not really his name.

(Oh he is all right, very pretty.)

But they call me now and I must go. I
must not abuse my privileges. God bless you
and be with you.

REPORTS OF SITTINGS 175

(Good-bye.)

You know I am Martin?

(Oh, yes!)

Close

SITTING OF MARCH 1 3, I9O5

[There is very little that can be quoted
from this sitting. It is a mixture of advice,
prophecy, encouragement and reproof, on the
part of both Rector and my communicator,
relating to the carrying on of my work and to
my condition of mind generally. Some of
the remarks of my communicator are, how-
ever, so characteristically vigorous that I
cannot refrain from giving a few of them as
disconnected extracts.]

The General

Well, well, well! Will wonders ever
cease ! Is that you ?

(Why, yes, don't you know me?)
Well, I guess I do.
(Is this you, General?)
Yes, that is right.

I seem sometimes to see your fits of dis-
couragement.

(Yes.)

I do not like it. I passed through life, I
think, with a brave and a stout heart. Many

176 BOTH SIDES OF THE VEIL

disappointments and trials came to my life,
but I never relinquished my hold, the hold
upon my faith and trust and hope, all through
my life, did I ?

(No, I think not.)

[He had a faith of some kind, which
carried him through to the very end without
complaint.]

Now I called upon these helpers and these
holy fathers to bring you here that we might
clear up some of these little cobwebs in your
brain.

(Well, clear them up, I wish you would.)

I dislike the sort of discontented thoughts.
I dislike the feeling that there is no time, and
a waste of energy, a waste of life, a waste of
material, a waste of everything. Now that is
not true at all.

I thought you were an idiot, in a sense, be-
cause you believed in the eternal life, but how
dense my mind was, how weak, how unchari-
table ! But you will forgive me, you do for-
give me?

(Yes.)

You understand, but it was you that were
wise and I was weak, yet I was your friend.

(I know that, General.)

REPORTS OF SITTINGS 177

I am your friend to-day. I look the same,
and if your spiritual eyes could be opened you
would see me standing here registering my
thoughts through the ether with which this
receptacle is filled.

I can't have any thoughts of discourage-
ment. Life is too serious, it is too beautiful,
too strong, too great a thing to allow the
thoughts of discouragement to enter such a
brain as yours. I am astonished! I am
astonished! " Oh," I said, "if I only get
hold of her again I shall picture life as it really
is and not as she thinks." What do you sup-
pose you were created for? What do you
suppose you were put into the earthly life for?
You have not half carried out your mission.
It is only in the beginning, and it is a useless
waste of thought for you to think otherwise.
Are you going to profit by what I am telling
you?

(Yes, indeed.)

I don't know whether I was a good
preacher or not, but however, I know one
thing, you usually profited by my advice, and
I think you will do it now. In any case I
shall watch you and I shall reach you now by
sending you a message and you will know how
things are turning.

178 BOTH SIDES OF THE VEIL

[In omitted portion he speaks of his
intention of sending a message occasionally
" through that gentleman that comes here,"
meaning, of course, Dr. Hodgson.]

Why, the idea of a physically

well woman of your years and experience
getting into such a state of mind ! Why, it is
dreadful, and if there was no charity in the
world there would be no love, and if there was
no love there would be no life, do you
know that ? And without — do you remem-
ber somewhere in the book we used to call the
Bible it says unless ye have charity?

(Yes.)

Can you quote it?

(" Unless ye have charity ye shall be as
sounding brass and tinkling cymbals," I
think.)

Yes, now register that in your mind.

(Do you suppose you will be able to come
here again this season?)

Oh, yes, I think so. The time, I don't know
about that. You will have to ask them, and
they will give you some definite idea. That
is not in my hands. I only know that when
the Light is burning and I see the Light, and
the ether from our world is sufficiently clear, I
know I can enter it and speak with you, which
is a perfect delight. That makes our life on

REPORTS OF SITTINGS 179

this side complete and perfect. You under-
stand that. Now I want you to talk to me,
but I did feel, oh if I could only reach you
once more.

(Yes. Wait a minute. You know that
the time has got to be short this morning,
don't you?)

Short? What do you mean?

(Why, we can only have about half the time
that we usually have, because the Light has
not been in a good condition in the physical,
and — is Rector there by you?)

Yes, what shall I say to him? You
can see that the hands are always going out
to us in touch. We are never left alone,
I am never left alone when I am speaking
with you. Imperator comes and goes, keeps
coming and going, to see that all is going on
well, and Rector or Prudens , some of them
stand here and watch me to see how I get
along, and if I fail for words or light they
supply it. It comes over a line. Say what
you want to. I think it is a pity to have you
distressed about the time, but I don't know
about these conditions so much, about the
earthly side, but you will have to ask them, I
think.

(Well, now I have been ordered to tell
Rector that three-quarters of the time has gone
and he will have only sixteen minutes more

i8o BOTH SIDES OF THE VEIL

and then I shall have to leave, and if I do not
I will not be allowed to come again. Do you
understand that?)

You mean to say that I must go now?

(No, but I want you to tell Rector, who is
there, just what I have said, will you?)

I will speak to him — just one minute.

[Very brief pause. Evidently speaking to
Rector. Lips moving slightly.]

Well, what do you think he says?

(I don't know.)

Why, he says he does not see how he can
open and close the Light in so short a time as
that.

[I explain a little further the necessity for
being brief, and there is a little more talk.]

(Well now, General, I am afraid you will
have to go.)

[Still more talk]

(Now you will have to go, you will have to
go, — good-bye.)

Don't say good-bye to me! I am going
out and I wTill stand aside right here.

[Rector returns for a few moments.]

Close

SITTING OF APRIL 1 9, 1905

[This sitting was largely taken up with
matters pertaining to my own family, one
member of my family being very ill at the

REPORTS OF SITTINGS 181

time. I had clear communications from my
father and from my sister Laura, mentioned
in sitting of Dec. 20, 1904. It seemed to me
that Laura, for the first and only time, spoke
directly through the machine, so called, — that
is, spoke directly to Rector, who repeated her
words. For she seemed surprised at the ease
with which communication could be carried on,
and said: " I want to tell you how clear I
am, and what a perfectly clear line I am work-
ing over. I can see so much better than I
ever did before." Upon this Rector imme-
diately interjected the following remark: " I
am going to say this, that I have never, I
think, seen the Light clearer than it is this
day." When I addressed my sister saying:
"Now, Laura," she interrupted with: UI
hear your voice like a trumpet." When I
asked her to take a message to my father, she
said: "I don't know, — if I could turn
round and go out just a little distance on this
cord I could bring him here. I will go and
see." And then my father himself seemed to
speak a few words directly. Other communi-
cators were somewhat crowded out by relatives
on this occasion.]

The General

[In speaking about my coming summer
vacation, I say:]

(How about Poland Spring?)

182 BOTH SIDES OF THE VEIL

Oh! [apparently laughing] Well, could
you go there?

(I could go there for a short time. I think.
I will try and arrange to go to Greenacre a
short time and then go to your old stamping
ground, Poland Spring, where the water is,
and the woods.)

And the Poland Spring House, you re-
member?

(Yes.)

Oh, I know so well. These old haunts last
in my memory even in the spiritual world.
The only thing I regret is the absolute im-
becility on my part of the truth of an eternal
life, but sometimes we have not the keenest
spiritual perception into the higher things
while in the mortal body, especially when the
mind is troubled and disturbed with all that the
earthly world places before us, and while life
[lasts] we have not the time, perhaps, or the
keen appreciation, and I may say apprehension,
of the possibilities of the future. Therefore I
made my mistakes in that line, — not exactly
mistakes, but I lost a great deal.

(Yes.)

But my life was a busy one, as you know.
Tell me about — how is little Gus, and
Everett, and the children and all? They are
doing splendidly, aren't they?

(Well, I think they are.)

REPORTS OF SITTINGS 183

(Do you think I will not be able to come
again this season?)

Well, I am not so sure. They said:
11 Now if you want to talk with your friend
again we shall give you the privilege of doing
it and the opportunity will present itself imme-
diately," and then they said: "We will ap-
point the third day," and so on, and then they
made it known to somebody in the body, and
they said: "Because we cannot at the
moment see the probability of it again." But
if it is possible and you are called for, you
know you have got to come.

(I gave up a good deal this time to come.)

Yes, I know, but it could not be avoided,
and it was better so, as you can see. And
haven't you found them very clear to-day?

(Yes, very.)

And I myself, the only thing I regret is that
I have to cease to speak. . . . Now I am
going. I am not going to say good-bye, be-
cause I hate the word.

Close

SITTING OF JUNE 21, 1905

What is life is love, and what is love is life,
and what is life and love is spirit. I have
called you here again. I have felt that I
could not allow the Light to close without

i84 BOTH SIDES OF THE VEIL

meeting you once more. . . . You have
freed me, did you know it? Nothing on the
earthly side hampers or troubles me in the
least. I am as free as it is possible for a spirit
to be.

Your father sends a great deal of love to
you, and also your sister. She is so much
freer since the last conversation with you here
that she is the happiest girl you ever saw.
You have helped them greatly by coming
here. You have no idea of the relief to the
spirit these communications give.

(Give my love to them both.)

I understand that they are going to make
better conditions after they return.

[" They " means the spirits in charge.
" After they return " means after the vaca-
tion season.]

I understand that Imperator has made
special arrangements — do you know what
they call an hour?

(Yes.)

They are going to prolong it an hour and a
quarter at the very least, and they are going
to make the earthly friend sign to their ar-
rangements —

[" Earthly friend " is the expression which
was commonly used by the trance personalities

REPORTS OF SITTINGS 185

in referring specifically to Dr. Hodgson.]

— because right in the middle of conversa-
tion, sometimes when the best sentiments are
to be given, the Light is shut off, and this is
not quite right. I lose the counts of time,
only that the man who has charge —

(Hodgson?)

— Hodgson, he keeps talking about hours
and fifteen minutes, hours and three-quarters,
and so on, and that keeps it fresh in the mem-
ories of the controls.

(Tell Rector that there are fifteen minutes
— the rule.)

Who says that?

(Hodgson says that.)

[Meaning that I had been directed to bring
the sitting to a close at a certain time.]

Does he? Well, he is a good fellow. He
receives much help. I will tell you a secret —
he is inclined to be jealous, a little bit hostile
if he cannot have his way, but they manage
him over here beautifully. He knows that
whatever they say is right and he must obey, if
we return. Do you know that I feel some-
times it is possible that we may not get at this
Light, and then what shall we do? Impera-
tor has been trying to make rules and regula-
tions that when the Light is dim and unsatis-
factory he will only see those who really de-
serve and let the testing go, fearing that the

i86 BOTH SIDES OF THE VEIL

Light may give way entirely. But at the
present time through his prayers he has kept
it very well and done well. Does not that
in itself show the power of spirit?

Close

SITTING OF DECEMBER 20, 1905
The General

Well, are you really here again? I see, I
hear, I understand. Your spirit looks clearer
to me. Are you not happier?

(This is the General, is it not?)

Yes, and no one else.

(I want you to understand, and Rector and
all of them, that I fully and most thoroughly
appreciate the privilege of coming here to
see you.)

Divine Providence governeth all things
well, and as I must say, in harmony with these
good friends here, that if you have faith and
trust, all things are mapped out for good and
will be seen by yourself as being managed by
the Unseen, in the main.

(Yes.)

You understand?

(Yes.)

And what is God's will, will be done.

REPORTS OF SITTINGS 187

Therefore your coming here is a privilege to
us as well as to yourself, and it is in obedience
to His will.

[" Obedience," stumblingly, first, then
" obevance " or "abeyance "]

(Yes.)

How can we manage it otherwise? What
can we do when you are summoned?

(You may be sure I shall be on hand.)

And the way will be opened for you. Let
me speak on, because we are limited on our
Light. That is, the power gives out.
I am very anxious, since I have learned so
much about this beautiful life and realize the
truth and reality of it by having the actual ex-
perience, that the world should through your
hand and brain be made cognizant in part of
the unfoldment, of the true development of
the soul after it leaves its environment; that it
is an active consciousness, that it is in the state
of higher development, that it is able to reach
the physical plane and act through such voices
as your own, we would say, to give expression
and utterance to the truth and reality of in
part what this life contains. Is that clear to
you?

(Yes. Well, of course I cannot know
about your life except as you give it to me.)

But through your own unfoldment, as you
say, you receive constantly help and impres-
sions from me in this life.

188 BOTH SIDES OF THE VEIL

(Yes.)

You cannot work alone without this help
which you receive perhaps unconsciously to
yourself, yet not unconsciously to — your sub-
conscious mind receives the impressions which
I give you and they are unfolded through the
conscious mind. Therefore you give expres-
sion to the very things which I impress your
mind with.

• •••••

Tell me about the boy.

(Well, what do you see about him?)

[I have in mind a nephew of mine, who
lives in California, in regard to whom I have
had many communications, but his reply in-
dicates that he is inquiring about his own boy,
and I say:]

(Do you mean my boy or yours?)

I mean mine. ... In regard to your
boy, he is a long distance in the earthly world,
is he not?

[This thought was evidently suggested by
something which was said about his own boy
being nearer to me.]

And is that not his child?

(What child?)

Has he not a child or two?

(He has one, or has had one.)

Is this not his?

(Where is it?)

REPORTS OF SITTINGS 189

Why, isn't it here? Isn't this Max's boy?
His name is Plumb.

[My nephew's name]

(Well, that is his child, yes.)

Well, I wanted to tell you about him, be-
cause he came up to me, and as I found him I
said, M Why, this child certainly belongs to
my friend in the body," because he was so con-
stantly — do you remember a spirit named
Laura ?

(Yes, my sister.)

Yes, with her.

(Well, is it my sister, or some one else
named Laura?)

Yes, it is another, it is somebody else, but I
told you about her, did I not?

(I think it must be some relation. I wish
you could see.)

Well, they are both here, the lady and the
child. And the child leaving the body was a
great disappointment to him, but it was better
for the child and infinitely better for him and
for the mother.

(Why?)

Because the developments would have been
very painful. God knows best, and to un-
fold His truths would take me a long time.

(Well, we won't try now. Is that my
grandmother who has the baby?)

Yes, it is your sister's grandmother — that

190 BOTH SIDES OF THE VEIL

would be yours, of course, certainly — well,
you know we look at the connections here.
She is an elderly lady, an elderly lady, but in
the spirit no one is elderly. Perhaps you can
understand contradictory statements, if pos-
sible. Her name was Laura.

(Yes, that is it.)

She is very much attached to that child.

(Well, I have heard through another Light
that this grandmother of mine had this child.
Now have you seen me with that Light lately
at all?)

Yes, yes — [quite eagerly] — what Light
was that? I have been trying to give you a
password.

(At that time?)

Yes. You did not seem to understand it
some way.

[This child; a babe of nine months whom I
had never -seen, died Sept. 25, 1905, three
months previous to date of this sitting, no
sitting with Mrs. Piper having taken place in
the interim, and this is the first reference by
her to it. On Dec. 8 of this same month, less
than two weeks previous to date of this sitting,
I had a sitting with the psychic known as Mrs.
S., who told me that this child was with my
grandmother, and that my grandmother and
my communicator were acquaintances and
friends. I took it to be my mother's mother,

REPORTS OF SITTINGS 191

as my father's mother died when I was a mere
child. My mother's mother I knew well, as
she did not pass away until I had grown to be
a young woman. She was a reader of books
on Spiritism and was much interested in the sub-
ject, though she had few sympathizers among
her own friends. She is the grandmother who
would be most likely to have the child, and
her name was Laura.

It will be seen that when my communicator
asks: "Do you remember a spirit named
Laura," I immediately reply: 'Yes, my
sister," the sister being the first thought in my
mind. This positive reply might well have
switched my communicator's ideas oft the right
track, but when I say: " Is it my sister, or
some one else named Laura," he replies:
" Yes, it is another, it is somebody else, but I
told you about her, did I not?" I do not
know to what this " I told you about her "
can possibly refer, unless it means that my
communicator was actually present at my
sitting with Mrs. S. two weeks before, and
that he was the one who impressed it upon the
psychic to assure me that the child was with
my grandmother.]

But I wanted to tell you that this little child
is very happy and is in a home of its own with
these people and that they are taking good
care of it, and that there is nothing lost.

192 BOTH SIDES OF THE VEIL

(You tell both those Lauras that I am much
pleased to know that the child is with them
and will so report to the parents.)

That is right.

Why, spirit, spirit travels, remains con-
scious, feels out to its friends, reaches them
on the earthly side, but there are some things
which its memory cannot and does not wish to
retain. There are pages in every book, of life
which the spirit when it leaves closes that book
in the mortal life, it would like to forget, and
so it does. Therefore it is happier.

(General, are you in a sort of zone around
the atmosphere of this earth, and can you go
to other planets and stars if you wish?)

Yes, certainly, and now there is a case here
which has been very peculiar and perhaps has
been commented upon in the mortal body —
doubtless it has, because I have seen this man
struggling here and then I have seen him de-
part suddenly. He would come to the Light
and the Light would not be open, and he
would take his departure and go way off to
another country. His name is Myers, or
Myer.

[I think my communicator in life knew
nothing about F. W. H. Myers, of England,
who died in 1901, the year preceding that in
which my communicator died.]

And he comes here, he finds the Light un-

REPORTS OF SITTINGS 193

open — a very active, brilliant, fine man, keen
perceptions, finest type of mind — and he
comes here, he finds the Light not burning, he
departs, he goes and looks after his family —
he has a family in the mortal body — he goes
to find them and remains with them, and often-
times when the Light is burning he fails to ap-
pear, but you can understand that because of
his absence from the Light and being among
those he loves.

( Well, does he go to other worlds?)

He goes to other worlds and other planets.
He is constantly studying — he is a great
student — he is studying the conditions and
the changes and the whys and the wherefores
of communication, and the laws of life in the
spirit, in the body, and the ways of God and
the ways of man and spirit in general.

(Now I am afraid you will have to go.)

Shall I have to go ? —

(Tell Rector—)

— but with you I shall be —
(Tell Rector—)

— the way will be open when I can return
again soon and finish my conversation, for I
have much to tell you which I cannot utter
to-day.

Close

Note. This sitting took place on the morn-
ing of the day on which Richard Hodgson

194 BOTH SIDES OF THE VEIL

died. His death occurred in the late after-
noon or early evening.

SITTING OF' APRIL 1 7, 1906

[This sitting took place in my own private
room, near Copley square, Boston. The
" earthly friend " means Dr. Hodgson.]

The General

Hello, hello, hello! Well, well, well!
What have you got to say to me ?

(Who is this?)

Well, well, well ! Hello, Anne! Where
did you come from? Where did you come
from? I should like to know where we are,
where you are, where we all are, where I am.
Well, well, well! I am the General. Oh,
dear! Oh, dear! And you did not know me,
did you? Well, I never thought the time
would come when you would not know me.

(Well, wait a minute, General.)

What are you doing, writing?

(Yes.)

Oh, I see. Well, well, well you were al-
ways writing. Were you ever doing anything
else?

(Now, General — )

Yes, yes!

Tell me not in mournful numbers,
Life is but an empty dream,

REPORTS OF SITTINGS 195

And the soul is dead that slumbers,
And things are not what they seem.
Life is real, life is earnest,
And the grave is not its goal;
Not enjoyment and not sorrow,
Was not — no —
Dust thou art, to dust returnest,
Was not spoken of the soul.

(You have not forgotten your poetry, have
you?)

No, and I never shall.

(General — )

Yes?

It matters not how straight the gate,
How charged with punishments the scroll;
I am master of my fate,
I am captain of my soul.

That is not original, but I love it.

(Now, General, do you knowr you spoke so
much like the earthly friend when you first
came — )

Well, he was right beside me, and he was
so determined that he would speak first, I was
trying to see if I could not get him to give his
consent to let me, without him, and he first en-
tered and then he stepped aside and let me
enter, and that was how that happened to be.

(Then that is the reason I did not quite
recognize you at first.)

Well, I forgave you long ago. I don't lay

196 BOTH SIDES OF THE VEIL

that up against you. I know it is difficult be-
cause you cannot see me. You see, being a
spirit, I am so fine, my ethereal body is fine and
so finely constructed and all, that you cannot
see it with your mortal eye, but with your
spiritual eye you could see me plainly. Are
the children all well? Are you well? Busy?
Busy as a bee.

(Well, wait a moment, General. I am
sorry I cannot talk faster — )

Talk and write too? Well, the body has
its limitations, you know.

(Yes, I guess that is so. Now you said,
" where are we all." Now I want to know if
you know where you are, actually are, in this
spot this moment.)

At the present moment?

(Yes.)

Well, may I look around a bit and see ?

(Yes.)

Well, now just give me time.

[Fingers of hand touch my face, rest a
moment over my own hand, then find cabinet
size photograph of my communicator in gilt
frame which stands on table within easy reach.
This occupies only a minute or two. Then
emphatically:]

Ha ! ha. You can't fool me ! I am in
your room ! That is myself, that is myself/

(Yes.)

I am in your room. Well, I am more

REPORTS OF SITTINGS 197

pleased than I can say. This is an unexpected
pleasure and a perfect delight to me. Well,
I must say I am happier for it. How does it
happen? Perhaps you need not take the time
to explain, perhaps somebody else will do it
for me, but I am just a little bit in a quandary
to know how it happened. Oh, what a fool
I was! I did not know, I did not realize that
I should live again, and of all things I least
expected to return.

(The daughters of the Light were ill, and
so the Light has remained away from them,
and the meetings have been in this room of
mine for some little time past.)

That is the reason why I was so attracted
here that I begged Rector to arrange for me
to speak to you.

(I see.)

I had all I could do to keep from inter-
rupting each time lately.

(Yes.)

Well, that accounts for it. lou see that
helps me to understand. Thank you very
much.

[This was the first private sitting of my
own which took place after the passing out of
Dr. Hodgson, although I had attended many
sittings during the winter as assistant and re-
corder, and had been recognized by the
Hodgson personality, for it must be under-
stood that Dr. Hodgson purported to return

198 BOTH SIDES OF THE VEIL

through Mrs. Piper very soon after his death.
That is a matter, however, which I am leaving
for others to present. But his manner of
salutation was something like what appears in
the opening remarks of this sitting. In fact,
the two personalities seem to be blended, prob-
ably indistinguishably so to the reader to
whom both men were strangers when in life,
though the peculiar characteristics of each are
quite apparent to me. The profusion of ex-
clamatory greetings is Hodgsonian, while the
irrepressible bursting into rythm is Mar-
tinian.]

Now haven't you got anything to say to me ?
I want you to say lots of things to me.

(You will let Hodgson come a few moments
before — )

Oh, he is coming, you cannot get rid of him
so easy. You know this is a great big tele-
phone and I am speaking into it.

(Explain it more, will you?)

Yes, I will. The telephone is filled with
ether from our world, and it is a receptacle, a
vessel, and we blow into it just exactly as you
would blow a bellows, the air through a
bellows to an open fire, into an open fire, and
then we attach a cord, an ethereal cord, to that
and talk right over that cord right into the ma-
chine, and make this machine utter our
thoughts.

REPORTS OF SITTINGS 199

(I see.)

• ■

(Now, General, — )

Hodgson is coming!

(Tell him to wait a moment.)

Yes, good fellow, — I am glad to know him.

[Dr. Hodgson and my communicator were
not acquainted during life, though each knew
something about the other.]

There is a lot more I wanted to say, but I
am afraid I won't have the strength.

(Well, the time is very nearly up, and I
suppose I must speak with Hodgson. At any
rate, I want to.)

Well, he is going to, but I am going to see
you again sometime. ... I suppose I
must step aside. . . . This is the most
wonderful thing in the world to-day.
I must step aside and let this gentleman
speak. Good-bye. It is au revoir, not good-
bye.

(Good-bye, General.)

[" This gentleman " means Dr. Hodgson,
with whom I hold a brief conversation, which
I have thought best not to insert.]

Subliminal

[When Mrs. Piper is coming out of trance
there are brief remarks and broken utterances,

200 BOTH SIDES OF THE VEIL

some of them very clear, some of them in a
whisper, some of them quite indistinct and
wholly unintelligible. The appearance is as if
she were taking a last look at spirits standing
near, and as if these spirits, while she is re-
turning to her body, were impressing upon her
mind words and messages for her to repeat
to the sitter. Some of her broken utterances
also indicate her returning perception of her
surroundings in the room where the sitting has
taken place.]

Getting dark. They are all going away.

[Muttering something unintelligible]

I wonder what Martin has his hand in it —
General Martin is — I don't know you —

[Looking up inquiringly]

I can't hear you —

[Making great effort to hear]

What? I am happier for it. She'll un-
derstand. It is all right with me. I hope it
is with her.

[It will be noted that " I am happier for it "
is the same phrase as that used by my com-
municator through the trance, as if he were
repeating to Mrs. Piper's returning spirit
some of the same language used to me while
she was unconscious of what was being trans-
mitted through her organism.]

Close

REPORTS OF SITTINGS 201

SITTING OF JUNE 6, 1906

[Permission had been given for my sister
Grace, Mrs. Moore, to accompany me on this
occasion. She was present at the opening of
the sitting and at its close.]

The General

(I have copies of all that you have said to
me here, and I do not think it will all be pub-
lished by the Society, so that leaves the coast
clear for me to publish something in my book,
and I propose to do that, and speak of your
life in Boston.)

Very good. I should like that very much
indeed, because I do not care now. I lived
to know the truth, to understand the truth
and to speak the truth, and the truth will live,
and I am not ashamed of my name or any-
thing associated or connected with it, and the
truth will bear its weight throughout the uni-
verse, and I think it is better to be frank and
open and honest with the name.

I heard a little music in your room the other

evening and I heard an instrument being

played, and I sat in a large chair right near

the table. You were apparently reclining.

(Was somebody else making the music?)

Yes, yes. It was your sister, I think.

202 BOTH SIDES OF THE VEIL

And you were reclining, and I was sitting in
the large chair and listening.

(That was lovely.)

And I heard it all. And then I heard —

(Do you want my sister to come in the room
now?)

I am afraid it will interrupt me. I heard
" Old Oaken Bucket " plainly.

(Was my sister playing that or was I?)

You were playing it.

(Well, that is one of my favorites.)

Well, I don't know it at all. I know I
heard it. I heard you play it. I caught the
air. Then I heard her play a religious thing,
religious piece.

(Now, General, wait a moment. My sis-
ter is just outside. I think I will call her in,
but you need not speak to her unless you
wish.)

I am afraid it will interrupt me. I thought
it might interrupt my thoughts.

(When I am alone in my room I sometimes
sit down and play a little bit, and often play
"The Old Oaken Bucket.")

Yes, yes, I hear that. Well, I heard that.
Then I heard another little one that sounded
like "The Suwanee River."

(I did not play it.)

No, your sister. She played a few bars of
it. And then I heard a waltz, a waltz being

REPORTS OF SITTINGS 203

played. I think she has a very pretty touch,
and I think she sings a little, doesn't she?

(Oh, yes.)

But why doesn't she sing? I heard her
humming but not much singing to it.

(Well, her throat troubles her a little now.)

She is not well, but the spirit will improve
the flesh.

[I do not play much, and do not play often,
but probably play the " Old Oaken Bucket "
oftener than any other one piece. I did not
play it on the evening referred to. This sit-
ting took place on Wednesday. On the pre-
ceding Friday evening I was in my room with
my sister, Mrs. Moore, who was then visiting
me, though she had not been with me for
nearly a year prior to this visit. A friend of
hers called, and during the evening my sister,
who is very musical, sat down at the piano.
I betook myself to a couch, decidedly reclin-
ing. The friend sat in a small rocker, and
the Morris chair, the largest chair in the room,
which stood near the centre table, was unoc-
cupied. My sister's playing is noted among
her friends for its remarkably pretty touch,
and she has a way of humming at times when
she does not feel able to sing. As I remem-
ber this evening she sang in a low tone at first,
and finally sang one or two songs in her nat-
ural manner. She tells me that she played

2o4 BOTH SIDES OF THE VEIL

just a few strains of the "Suwanee River" on
the evening in question, though I did not re-
member it and could not have told that she
did play it.]

Close

SITTING OF SEPTEMBER 26, 1906

[There is on this occasion quite a long con-
versation with Dr. Hodgson. This and Rec-
tor's talk occupy the larger portion of the
hour.]

The General

Here I am. I am delighted to see you.
How are you?

(I am fine. Don't you think so?)

Good. Isn't that splendid! Yes, I think
you are. I never saw you better. Did you
ask your sister about that music?

(Yes.)

Well, wasn't I right?

(Yes, you were. She played the " Suwanee
River " that night, but I did not know it.)

Yes, and you often play the " Old Oaken
Bucket?"

(Yes.)

Do you know that I am with you when your
body is in repose and your spirit is floating

REPORTS OF SITTINGS 205

around conversing with me? Do you re-
member it when you wake? What are you
doing? Are you writing?

(General, I have to write down every
word. I wish I did not.)

Why don't you split the difference and di-
vide your mind?

(Well, I will. It hinders me. I think I
will drop it now.)

I wish you would. You lose the person-
ality.

[Which means that I discard paper and
pen, sit close to Mrs. Piper, and have an easy,
natural conversation with my communicator.]

Close

SITTING OF AUGUST 5, I9O7

[The date of this sitting is a little out of
season. Mrs. Piper had just returned from
England and gave a few sittings before leav-
ing Boston again to spend the remainder of
the summer in the country.]

The General

Little rills make wider streamlets,
Streamlets swell, the rivers grow;

And they join the ocean billows,
Onward, onward, as they go.

Does that sound natural?

(Yes. Will you say that once more?)

206 BOTH SIDES OF THE VEIL

[Verse repeated]

(All right, that is natural. How do you
do, General?)

Well, how do you do? I do as I'm a mind
to most of the time.

Do you realize that even though I go on in
life, progressing in this life, and go step by
step, my spirit is improving, I still look, back,
and never a step forward do I go that I do
not look back and live in pleasant memories
always of the old, olden days. ... I
have enough sentiment in my nature which
has become a part of myself and my spirit
here that if I sound or seem sentimental you
must overlook it, because it is a part of the
spirit.

(You cannot be too sentimental for me.)
I know your nature, but I say that senti-
ment is a part, and a finer, higher part, of the
spiritual life and its existence. And life is love
and love is life, and life is love, therefore it is
universal.

[In speaking about the mediumistic power
of another psychic, he concludes by saying:]

Well, ask Hodgson. He will tell you.
He has been a great help to me over here, and
he has been helping Myers all during the
burning of the Light. Perhaps you don't
know what has been going on?

REPORTS OF SITTINGS 207

(Not much.)

Well, perhaps it is just as well if you don't.
I don't know very much about it myself, only
I know we are very pleased on this side.

[This doubtless refers to the work of the
season just closed. See Proc. S.P.R. Part
LVII, Vol. XXII, October, 1908.]

[Toward the close of the hour my com-
municator says:]

But I am going to ask Hodgson what part
of his reports he wants you to have and he
will tell you.

(The time is up.)

I must let him come.

(The time is up.)

Well, he has got to speak to you, I can't
help it. It is not good-bye, only an revoir.

[A brief talk with Dr. Hodgson follows,
at the close of which he says : " God bless
you, and stick to it. That is the advice of
your old friend R. H."]

Close

SITTING OF NOVEMBER 20, 1907

[There is very little that can be quoted from
this sitting. I held conversations with three
communicators, and my old friend Hiram
Hart sent a brief message of remembrance.
More than twenty-four years have elapsed
since he passed away. This is the occasion

2o8 BOTH SIDES OF THE VEIL

on which my communicator says that " delays
are dangerous " and he now wishes me to push
my work along as rapidly as possible. While
advising and urging me, he says:]

The General

You are a little bit stubborn, do you know
it? You get an idea and you want to carry
that idea, you analyze it, you say it over in
your mind, and you are inclined to go back to
the first idea. Sometimes the broadest and
most reasonable minds are willing to add an
idea to their oldest idea, and have two ideas
instead of one.

(Well, I hope I am.)

[Further on he says:]

Imperator calls you one of his children. I
suppose you must be.

(I am glad to know that.)

Well, he watches over you with his all-see-
ing eye and does not want you to fail or fall
into error.

• •••••

Close

SITTING OF JUNE 17, I908

The General

You have heard of pearly gates and streets
of pearl? Those were as real as any ex-

REPORTS OF SITTINGS 209

pression which you may use in the physical
life. More real. It is a fact, — there are
streets of pearl, gates of pearl.

(Just like our pearl?)

It is similar. Yes, the comparison is so
near that you could not mistake it for a mo-
ment. And our castles, our homes, are real.
They are as real to us as yours are to you.
Yours is simply the imitation, ours is the real.
We have streets, we have gardens, we have
homes, we have rivers, we have lakes. If we
bathe in the river our garments are not wet,
but still we are purified, we are cleansed. But
the natural hair — but entering it does not
saturate our garments, and it does not wet
what you call the hair. We come out and it
is light and dry, the garments are dry, but
the soul is purified by bathing in the waters.
Is that clear to you? We walk about the
lakes, we walk in the gardens, we meet friends,
we commune with friends, we hear music, we
hear sermons, and we pass our time glorifying
God and living in His presence, in a sense, —
understanding what His hand hath created
and what He has blessed us with, eternal life.

(When you go out of your mansion and
look up toward what would be our sky, what
do you see?)

We see above us, we see our world radiant,
filled with light, a beautiful, soft moonlight,
difficult for you to comprehend because it is so

210 BOTH SIDES OF THE VEIL

clear, so beautiful, so light. We do not see
what you see — stars — but we see this beau-
tiful moonlight above us, all round us. The
air is scented with the most delicious perfume.
It is so exquisitely delicate that it seems almost
a part of our own existence, it is so beautiful,
so delicate, and so real. And we see above us
this beautiful light, and it is what you would
call in your world the heavens. It is above
us, far above us, and we see at times, we see —
a face appears. It grows lighter at times,
especially when we are in a particularly happy
state. The face appears over us and we know
it is the face of Christ. We hear the swishing
of the garment, as it were, and then it passes
off and some one else receives the vision.

(Do you ever see any other face like that
in the heavens except that of Christ?)

We see what you would call — there are
saints administering to those who need help,
or perhaps have just passed over, have not un-
derstood the conditions, and these saints appear
to give them courage and to give them faith
and to show them that this is everlasting and
eternal life. I am not very good at preach-
ing.

(Then you do not have our beautiful firma-
ment of stars at night?)

We have what corresponds to your stars.
There are rays, as it were, little flickering

REPORTS OF SITTINGS 211

rays all through the firmament, all through the
heavens. We see these little rays all about
us, this beautiful figure passing, we see another
face and then another as it passes. Why do
we not come into closer proximity with them,
as we say ? Because they are superior even
to ourselves, they have progressed, they have
gone on to a higher, even, sphere than our
own. That is, they are the controlling, the
ruling forces, and govern our own life and
our own world. Do you understand?

(Yes.)

A word of command, simply a hand is
raised — we know its meaning, we understand
it, we sense it as a little child would sense
danger, or a sensitive animal would sense
danger.

• • . • • i«j

Subliminal

[I have not exact notes of what Mrs. Piper
said on this occasion while coming out of
trance, but I have a memorandum that she
mentioned the names of nearly all my special
friends on the Other Side, as if she were see-
ing them: — Hiram Hart, the General, my
sister Laura, my father, the baby, my grand-
mother, Pickett. My grandmother holds the
baby up and the baby sends love to its mother,
and just then the General picked a rose and

212 BOTH SIDES OF THE VEIL

handed it to the baby, and the baby was pick-
ing it to pieces. The psychic, gradually re-
turning to consciousness, calls this one of the
most beautiful sights she ever saw.]

And the End is Not Yet. September, igog.

PART III

SUGGESTIVE THOUGHTS ON THE
ATTAINMENT OF SPIRITUALITY

As I have previously said, I have no System
of Philosophy to present, and possibly nothing
which ought to be dignified by the name of
Philosophy at all. I have not, however, been
able to divorce my psychical research from my
religious feeling, nor do I see how any religion
can be worthy of the name which does not
enter as a continual inspiration into the daily
life. Among the many definitions of religion
which I have seen I like that best which makes
it mean the right relation of mind and heart
toward our fellow-creatures and our environ-
ment, and the right attitude of the soul toward
the Incomprehensible and the Unknown. It
need have no specific name, nor is it of great
importance that one be identified with some
particular religious sect, but it does devolve
upon each individual person to ascertain to the
best of his ability what attitudes and relations
are right, and to constantly enlighten his un-
derstanding on these matters as he progresses
along the pathway between birth and the
grave. We love the man who walks in our
midst with his head among the stars, but we
smile a little at his lack of mental balance if
he does not make sure that his feet are tread-
ing solid ground. I believe we may walk on
solid ground and at the same time lift the eye
to the most distant star whenever we may wish.
215

216 BOTH SIDES OF THE VEIL

I have ventured to offer a few ideas upon
the varied relationships in life. If they shall
be found to be old, that will matter little, since
every one is privileged to appropriate from
out the treasure-house of the Past, to recast old
ideas into new moulds of his own thinking,
and to nourish himself thereby. It may be
that many of my readers will choose to pass
by these pages altogether, yet deep down in
my heart I am assured that among those who
peruse them there will be found at least a few
other hearts in which they will awaken an an-
swering thought and a responsive feeling.

SELF-DISCIPLINE

The best is near, already ours,
If we would wisely use the powers

Of mind and heart

And do our part.

Complete and fair the earth will be
For him whose inner majesty

Crowns ever)' sight

With its own light.

In any place we find the thing

That in our hearts the power we bring

To see and use,

All else we lose.

— Victor E. Southworth.

217

SELF-DISCIPLINE

/TTvO EASILY ignore one's own personality
•1 is an attainment that must be striven for,
a power that must be gained, but it is after all
a mere preparation for that which follows, a
mere opening at the door to the Vastness which
is outside of personality.

DEATH of the lower means the birth of
the higher. The suppression of a vice
means the nourishment of a virtue. The dy-
ing of the selfish means the living of the
charitable. The extinction of the ignoble
means the blossoming of nobility.

SOUL culture certainly does not come from
the reading of many books or from the
forming of a large acquaintance, nor is it
measured thereby. Yet it may depend some-
what upon the nourishment one is able to ex-
tract from his reading and upon the society
of those of his acquaintance who themselves
are cultured.

ONE who is extremely sensitive and at the
same time self-repressed — the first con-
dition generally being the cause of the second
— is the possessor of a temperament suffi-
ciently at war with itself to cause any amount
of mental anguish until the temperament is
understood and the unhappiness resulting from
219

220 BOTH SIDES OF THE VEIL

it is outgrown. Yet this same sensitiveness
when once understood, when it serves and does
not master, brings to its possessor the percep-
tion and enjoyment of untold things which the
person lacking it or possessing it in small de-
gree cannot appreciate at all. Slowly in early
life we begin to apprehend the great truth
that as surely as the cause of our unhappiness
lies within ourselves just so surely do we pos-
sess the power within ourselves to remedy ills,
to dispossess ourselves of misery and to take
possession of bliss.

T UNDERSTAND the philosophy of Spi-
■** noza to make a distinction between neces-
sity and external compulsion. We are of neces-
sity, in the nature of things, bound to do cer-
tain actions, to follow certain lines of conduct.
That is, we need not, unless we choose, but
we must in order to attain our highest good.
That is all.

THE giving up of the selfish quest for hap-
piness so dignifies and ennobles the soul
that one ceases to grope with downcast eyes;
one looks up, takes the hand of God and walks
with Him as a companion, a friend. Then
there is work in plenty to do, for one is a
co-worker with God. Just as a grown-up
daughter takes the arm of her earthly father
and walks joyously, confidingly, companion-

SELF-DISCIPLINE 221

ably, sharing his schemes and his outlook, yet
recognizing all the while the superior age, the
superior knowledge, the superior power.

THE person who is delicately sensitive to
spiritual influences receives impres-sions
in many ways and is more or less swayed by
them, and it is particularly desirable, indeed
imperative, that such person should cultivate
strength and self-control.

M

Y own nature is my law. That law in
its purest meaning must be obeyed.

• ET us never forget, in the analysis of
-*— ' self, that the great desideratum is the
power to turn one's face immediately and
wholly in the opposite direction from that of
our sensations, our emotions, our personal de-
sires; to be and to do as if they were not; to
fling from us the encumbrance of self-analysis
itself, and to stand erect as free, pure spirit.

'IT/HEN one accepts the theory that the
▼» haps and the mishaps in his particular
environment take place for the purpose of de-
veloping character in him, to understand their
significance and their special bearing upon the
end in view becomes a fascinating intellectual
game.

222 BOTH SIDES OF THE VEIL

TO control one's nerves or be ruled by them
— that is the question. The one thing
leads to life, the other to death. " Self-
stayed, serene and high," the poet says. It
seems to be an inversion of the natural order
of things that mere nerves should have pos-
session of the field, frightening all else. Yet
the nerves are like the finest magnetic needle,
indicating the slightest change in the atmos-
phere, the least deviation in our course. They
should be of the greatest aid to the spirit, like
the dainty, delicate servitors that they are.

SELF-POISE is a marvelous thing. Its in-
fluence ramifies through every part of
mind and body, affecting each tiny cell. A
new cleavage has as it were been made and
all primal elements in the nature strike a new
attitude toward the centre of control.

CHECKING the "vagaries of thought,"
relaxing the tensions of the body, breath-
ing deeply of God's pure air, ignoring the im-
portance of the Ego, steadily pushing the
activity of the whole being in the direction
in which one wishes it to move, are rules which
when followed closely and when working har-
moniously are sufficient to introduce one into
a new world; aye, a world so large as com-
pared with the treadmill narrowness of a small

SELF-DISCIPLINE 223

life and purposeless thinking that it may well
be called a universe. This glorified world
awaits him who seeks.

DESPONDENCY is an insult to the Crea-
tor. It cripples all the faculties He has
given. It should be rooted out of one's na-
ture as any other vice. It should be subli-
mated into cheer.

THE soul will plod on in certain directions
blindly if it must, but when the lamp of
intelligence is lighted it walks boldly without
wavering or fall.

WE hear about the art of forgetting. It
is more than an art. It is a positive es-
sential in one's mental equipment if one would
make progress in the spiritual life.

THE art of forgetting one thing is the art
of remembering another. The thing
which we wish to forget must be supplanted
in our minds by the definite thing upon which
we wish to concentrate the attention. Thus
it happens that the mastery of physical weak-
nesses and temperamental defects and the gain
in mental power are, after all, brought about
by cultivation of spiritual qualities. It is only
as spiritual qualities, positive and strong, sup-

224 BOTH SIDES OF THE VEIL

plant the things in ourselves which we wish
to forget that the desideratum is attained,
namely, the control of all our forces and the
enjoyment of our lives.

THE secret of working easily, without tir-
ing, is an intelligent understanding and
adjustment of the mutual relation of spirit,
mind, nerve and muscle. These are all sep-
arate and distinct things and yet they are one.
The body should be in such a position that
the life fluids may flow through it without ob-
struction. No muscles should be taut except
those required for the particular work that is
being performed. The nerves should be
steady, not jumping erratically because of ag-
itation in the mind. The mental powers must
be concentrated upon the work in hand, and
the soul must be without rebellion.

ONE may travel the world over in search
of peace and never know it until he
makes it. Let him make use of the mighty
sceptre which God has given him and com-
mand the elements at war within his own
breast.

THE downpour of water from the skies
is essential to the life of the trees. The
rain of sorrow in our lives must be drawn into
our life-blood, else we too shall wither and

SELF-DISCIPLINE 225

perish and fail of the growth we were born
to accomplish. Living according to the laws
of nature we expand day by day as inevitably
and unconsciously as do the trees.

THAT in your temperament which you rec-
ognize as your greatest weakness may
become not only your greatest strength but
the source of your greatest enjoyment, since
by means of mastering a weakness you learn
the law which brings to you its opposite good.

REAL goodness is not so common a thing
in this world. It may even be said to be
rare. It is not a subterfuge into which one
flees because he lacks ability or will. Rather
is it ability and will only which can acquire
the actual good.

LAW prevails in the so-called lower as well
as the higher. It is for us to choose
whether we will live under the preponderating
influence of laws which bring about a lesser
degree of happiness, or under laws which
mould us into creatures of a finer fibre, capable
of seeing in our environment that to which
we were formerly blind, capable of enjoying
that which formerly conveyed no meaning to
us.

226 BOTH SIDES OF THE VEIL

THE unspeakable relief which comes to a
person who struggles with an unhappy
temperament when one day he suddenly turns
his back upon it all, is only to be understood
by those who suffer the miseries of such an
existence and into whose hearts at last the
floods of spiritual light are poured. The in-
stant the spirit is thus freed, light-heartedness
springs into being at a bound, involuntarily,
necessarily, for it is the struggle itself which
makes the heavy heart. The joy which is the
accompaniment of vigorous, energetic action
then supplants the heaviness of lackadaisical,
paralyzing struggle.

THE Divine Will reveals to its devoted
followers more and more of its purport
and wisdom. Follow not the Will and you
may become blind.

NO one should feel that because he is
locked in his own chamber for the hour
he may give free play to unworthy thought
and ignoble feeling, he may safely indulge in
melancholy or despair. This does not mean
that he may not occasionally be " off guard,"
as it were. If it did, privacy would contrib-
ute little toward the recuperation of our
powers. But when alone one may entertain

SELF-DISCIPLINE 227

the angel of his better self even more charm-
ingly perhaps than when in the presence of
others.

I IFE may be glorious every day. The
**— ' spirit may wrap itself round in cloud-
like airiness, so light, so beautiful, so pene-
trating, that all which is ugly is softened by
it and disappears from our view.

THE healthful discipline that comes from
daily work, when one takes pleasure in it
is valuable beyond computation. The power
to direct the mental faculties undisturbed by
the turmoil of surroundings is of the greatest
imaginable good, and this power acquired in
daily discipline will be of service wherever
one goes. The contact with our kind in gen-
eral, high and low, superiors and inferiors,
refined and coarse, brings to the surface the
shining beauty of true character, as stones
rubbed together only polish and make brighter
the beauty of the priceless gem. Why then
need the worker complain of his lot? Rather
let him glory in it. Daily work is many a
soul's salvation. Daily work may grow for
us wings instead of forging for us fetters.

228 BOTH SIDES OF THE VEIL

44 A BATEMENT of thought" expresses

**■ tersely a mental process which should
be within the power of all. Rather, it expresses
an action of the spirit upon the mind, causing
it to refrain from working at will. No one
who has not acquired the ability to abate the
thought to a greater or lesser degree knows
the highest spiritual peace which he is capable
of attaining. It may be that the thought can
never wholly cease while life lasts, as the
body may not stop its breathing. But surely
it is that when riotous thought abates, peace
and joy roll over the kingdom. I remember
the beautiful words of P. Ramanathan — I do
not know whether he himself was quoting —
that " Thoughts are the warp and woof of
the veil which hides from us the face of God.
Lift the veil and God is there."

HAPPINESS

Kncw'st thou the truth, thou wouldst not pray:
Lord to thy child send joy this day.
Thou art deceived: joy is within,
And never pain nor grief nor sin
Can take't away. God put it there.
Nor comes it nearer thee for prayer.
Joy is of thy true self a part —
Why shouldst thou pray for what thou art:
— Mary Putnam Gilmore.

The full throat of the world is charged with song,
Morning and twilight melt with ecstasy
In the high heat of noon. Simply to be,

Palpitant where the green spring forces throng,

Eager for life, life unashamed and strong —
This is desire fulfilled. Exalted, free,
The spirit gains her ether, scornfully

Denies existence that is dark or wrong.

This is enough, to see the song begun
Which shall be finished in some field afar.
Laugh that the night may still contain a star,
Nor idly moan your impotence of grace.
Life is a song, lift up your care-free face

Gladly and gratefully toward the sun.

— Helen Hay Whitney.

229

HAPPINESS

LET us learn to dwell in the upper chambers
of our being. There the mental atmos-
phere is always clear, the moral horizon is
unflecked by clouds, only enchanting distance
and mysterious space meet the gaze of the
Ego through the windows of the purified
soul.

TO be keenly sensitive to the ugly and the
bad is to be delicately sensitive to the
beautiful and the good. To be sufferingly
sensitive to human inharmonies is to be joy-
fully alive to enlightened lawfulness. So
closely akin are joy and sorrow that while one
hand may be pressing a heavy heart, the other
may be stretching upward toward the stars.

WHEN one comes into virtual possession
of the wealth of the universe through
conscious affinity with it, poverty in material
things is no longer to be feared. Who can
rob us of the soil over which we lightly tread?
Who can deprive us of the air we freely and
deeply breathe? WTho can bar from our vision
the beauty of sky and star? Who can alter
by one slightest shade the glorious coloring
of the landscape or the gorgeousness of the
setting sun?

231

232 BOTH SIDES OF THE VEIL

WE wish for freedom to live, to act, within
the perfect laws of God, yet independ-
ent of the laws of man, which must be ever
changing, never perfect. This does not mean
lawlessness, but law////ness. Man's laws are
only an approach to those of nature, an im-
perfect copy of them. He who sees nature's
law back of man-made law will not disobey
the latter and it will be no bondage to him.
His own natural law is the higher.

ONE touch of real sorrow is worth a thou-
sand days of that which is ordinarily
considered happiness unalloyed. And what is
sorrow but contact with the realities of life,
with the seriousness of death, with the wonders
of God's ways? Why should we then wish
that sorrow never enter our path? Sorrow?
It is not sorrow, — that is only our name for
it. It is the opening of the clouds before
us, giving us a glimpse of the vastness of
Heaven. It is God's hand appearing out of
the haze pointing to a glory never yet con-
ceived in our days of simple, complacent hap-
piness.

IN the course of time all Nature assumes for
us a character of intelligence, of life, and
her laws become friendly creatures. We may
commune with them, yield to them, trust them,
feel ourselves shielded and protected by them.

HAPPINESS 233

Even the darkness of the night is friendly.
It hushes us to repose, it soothes us to sleep.
Whv need one be restlessly wakeful when thus
closely befriended? The space and the silence
are full of stirring creatures, our many friends.

ILLUMINATION from within transfigures
all upon which it falls. Thus again may
we make a new world about us. It is the
nature of light to transfigure and the object
seen takes on a special hue from the character
of the light which shines upon it.

FATE is my mission, my loved work, the
particular work which I can do better
than I can do other things, the work which I
can do better than some one else can do it.
Fate is a mighty friend in disguise.

LET no one say that he cannot live a suc-
cessful, happy life in the spot where his
birth places him or in places where the trend
of events takes him. The inner life, the life
of strength, nobility, patience, effort, dignity,
beauty, depends not upon its location in the
material world, depends not on outer surround-
ings, but rather by its own inherent force does
it draw unto itself from earth and heaven the
strong vital currents which mingling make for
that life a new atmosphere, make for that life
almost a new environment. So translucent in

234 BOTH SIDES OF THE VEIL

time may that atmosphere become that the
soul, without moving the body from one spot,
may have a vision far exceeding in acuteness
and range the vision of the insatiate traveler,
though his travels be world-wide.

PRIDE of attainment in spiritual things is
inconsistent with that attainment. Rather
should we be grateful that we have been
brought under the law.

WHY not repose in the protecting good-
ness of the Powers that Be? Surely it
cannot be that the Maker of majestic orbs
travelling nightly their course across the heav-
ens, suggesting to us unerring law and flashing
down upon us their starry brilliancy, will leave
His human children uncared for and adrift.

A

BLOW like death knocks us out of our
petty selves.

THE mercurial temperament suffers more
than the phlegmatic. It must be remem-
bered, however, that the mercurial tempera-
ment senses various degrees of heat and cold
in its atmospheric environment, and when Mer-
cury cultivates his intellect he is able to pick
and choose the climate in which he shall daily
dwell.

HAPPINESS 235

IT is a blessed thing to give of our substance
and feel it no denial, not because we have
much, but because we wish to give that which
we have.

LIFE is serious, or should be. Yet it is
the man who is apparently the most se-
rious who most easily bursts into the happy
laughter of the light of heart. The deeply
serious man looks into the principles of being,
into the laws of life, understands the secrets
of the Most High. He is the man then who
may at times be lifted into the bright airiness
of God's fairy lands.

WE find ourselves at times in states of mind
which seem to be those of transition.
We do not quite understand what is taking
place within. Things that once would have
given us pleasure have lost their attraction.
Occurrences which once would have caused in
us excessive emotion no longer have that
power. Affection itself seems to wane and
dependence on our friends is less binding. We
are a little fearful lest in some way past our
comprehension and beyond our control our
hold on life is weakening and our interest
flagging. Yet we need not be anxious.
Transition states such as these are glorious
harbingers of better things to come. Irksome
bondage of the flesh is dropping off and free-

236 BOTH SIDES OF THE VEIL

dom is being acquired. Let us welcome al-
ways the advance, be watchful, trustful and
calm. The resistless laws of nature are sweep-
ing us on.

DEATH saddens? It must be sweet to
lay down the burdens of life and fall
asleep in the arms of God, just as we lay down
the burdens of a day and fall asleep in the
arms of night. And as God speaks to us in
the darkness of the night, bidding us lay down
the burdens of the day, so he calls us by the
cloudiness of death to lay down the burdens of
life. Let us reverence and welcome both the
darkness of night and the cloudiness of death,
for God is in both.

ONE is always happy in conscious power
when exerted for good. Spirit unham-
pered is strong. Therefore by as much as we
free the spirit, give play and exercise to its
attributes, by so much do we become con-
sciously powerful, by so much do we grow
like unto the gods.

• ET us cling to a friendship which shows
*- ' itself persisting through differences of
opinion, divergence of interests and separation
of lives. Such a friendship proves that the
heart is stronger than the head and that the
heart's needs are all-important.

HAPPINESS 237

IF one listen, listen, with concentrated spirit-
attention, just as he would listen with the
physical ear were he trying to catch a sound,
he will hear many beautiful things which pass
unheeded by the busybody and the listless.

RENEWED consecration to holiness of life
and nobility of conduct will always and
immediately lift one from the slough of
despond.

WHEREIN is depth different from
height? Well may he who can look
into the depths of the Commonplace and
wrest from it its meaning be envied by his fel-
low-man and not despised by him who is on
the mountain top. Delicate courtesy compels
us and the commonest relations in life never
cease to be objects of beauty when we see
them as the marvels that they are.

THE term that we glibly use, " Face of
Nature," is itself suggestive of life, for
in a human face there is the expression of
all the qualities that make up the soul. Let
us call it then face of nature, or face of God.
If we are akin with it, it will be very much
alive. Then we shall see in the changing
clouds, the waving trees, the widest waters,
only the expression of the unseen life

238 BOTH SIDES OF THE VEIL

aback, responsive to each sentiment of our
own, answering each appeal. We do not
need the language of words when love shines
upon us from a beaming countenance. Then
why are we so deaf to this most eloquent mes-
sage that comes to us from the face of Nature,
revealing the Almighty Soul behind?

INEXPRESSIBLE is the joy of having
found a confidence that replaces fear, a
trust that takes the place of doubt, a compo-
sure wrought out of agitation, light that ban-
ishes darkness, and a freedom that breaks
down all prison walls.

VARIOUS INTIMATIONS

It is a mystery of the unknown

That fascinates us; we are children still,
Wayward and wistful ; with one hand we cling

To the familiar things we call our own,
And with the other, resolute of will,

Grope in the dark for what the day will bring.

— Henry Wadsworth Longfellow.

Prais'd be the fathomless universe,

For life and joy, and for objects and knowledge

curious,
And for love, sweet love — but praise! praise! praise!
For the sure-enwinding arms of cool-enfolding death.

— Walt Whitman.

' By her own strength can Virtue live?

Self-poised can Hope wide-winging soar? '
List! for our deepening age shall give
Some answer surer than of yore; —
Stand fast, high hearts, thro' woe and weal ;
Watch thro' the night, if watch ye may;
Wait, till the rifted heavens reveal
Unheard-of morning, mvstic day.

— F. W. H. Myers.

239

VARIOUS INTIMATIONS

"DLESSED is the man for whom the mys-
**" tery of life has become a continual attrac-
tion, who sees beauty mirrored in its depths,
and a divine significance to it all.

ASTRONOMERS are endeavoring to dis-
cover the nature of life on the planet
Mars. Yet what has that life to do with us?
If it were not that our globe itself is unfold-
ing, giving forth its secrets to the questioning
mind of man; if it were not that the race as a
race is evolving, acquiring new powers with
each passing generation, there might be some
reason in the claim that what the Creator has
not seen fit to reveal to us He never intended
we should know. Yet it is not at all incon-
ceivable that with newly evolved powers of
the human mind, with ever higher attainment
in spiritual living, with more finely attenuated
human organisms, means will be found in the
not distant future by which we may even be-
come cognizant of the interests of our neigh-
bors on the ruddy orb which we name Mars.
If friends who have passed from our sight are
living on still, they must be not only in some
place but in a state of real vitality. Can it
be wrong to try to reach them?

CONCENTRATION is the withdrawing
of the mind from the many to the few,
241

242 BOTH SIDES OF THE VEIL

from the multitudinous to the homogeneous,
from complexity to simplicity, from manifes-
tation to the unmanifest, from the material
to the spiritual, from the agitated to the calm.
If one wishes one may find sleep through con-
centration,— sleep, the withdrawal of the Ego
from the outer to the inner, from the seen to
the unseen.

WHEN I was a child I looked at the
pale green of the western sky, tinged
here and there with rose, and something
within me responded to this beauty which I
beheld at a distance. It stirrd within me an
unutterable longing to be able to express in
my own nature a purity such as I saw em-
blazoned there. Surely God's handiwork
appeals to the inner eye, the organ of the
inmost self.

MY real life, that which I feel surging
through my body, welling up in my emo-
tions and bursting out from my brain, is in-
dependent of time and space every day.
Death then only marks the end of certain ac-
tions and a certain course of conduct, as the
hour of dusk marks off the actions of the day.

DIGNITY is more becoming than self-
consciousness. Dignity is self-conscious-
ness grown divine.

VARIOUS INTIMATIONS 243

THIS straining after arguments to prove
that the Ego survives the death of the
body seems needless, seems at times folly to the
soul that is conscious that wherever it moves
it walks among Irving things, that nowhere
is there really death, but only transformation.

I CRAVE that which satisfies my ideal of
spiritual dignity and beauty, as one looks
constantly in the material for beauty of form
and color.

THE glow that one feels from closeness
to the Great Impersonal may be just as
vivid as that which flows from bodily contact
with a human friend, — nay, more so. The
human soul can touch the Eternal, and the
human soul when linked with the Over-Soul
generates new and wonderful powers.

GENTLENESS in the human countenance
is more beautiful than assertion. The
mild eye is more pleasing than the sharp, and
may sparkle with a lovelier light. The saintly
man appears to breathe out gentleness from
every portion of his body.

THE EGO has many kith and kin in the
Universe whom it may take delight in
meeting when the sheath of the personality
is laid aside.

244 BOTH SIDES OF THE VEIL

LOVE and selflessness make the vision
clear.

IT is true that there are, here and there in
our very midst, individuals who claim to
be repositories of what is known as " Hermetic
Philosophy," the knowledge of which is not
to be found in printed books but has been
handed down by sure means from the wisdom
of the past. It is well known that many
truths relating to the material universe, only
recently established by science, were known to
Eastern sages many years ago, secrets of the
Cosmos wrung from it by I know not what
sort of spiritual acumen. This occult lore is
so vast in its scope that it comprehends as a
matter of course life on more planes than one,
and, among its privileged initiates, to speak
of death as ending all seems an affront to their
intelligence as well as to their faith. Not-
withstanding this, the masses, the millions,
bury in the black earth the dear bodies of
their friends and turn away with that terrible
sinking of the heart which means that joy has
gone out of their lives. They are only con-
scious that the monster Fate, to which all
men must bow, has at last overtaken them.
Into such hearts one who sees the light ahead
longs to shed a ray of hope.

VARIOUS INTIMATIONS 245

NEITHER the mind nor the body can be
composed if there is agitation at the cen-
tre. And calmness is not dullness, it is not
inactivity. It is power exerted, it is control
of forces, it is intense mental action, it is
spiritual energy.

WHEN death comes to one of two who
have been inseparable in the bonds of
love, one is born into new life on the other
side of the Veil, one is born into new life on
this side. They go on together as before,
except that the thin partition between the Seen
and the Unseen divides their bodies but not
their souls. Nay, the bond that bound them
becomes the sweeter and the stronger. With
the great event called death between them,
both open new eyes to God's wonders at one
and the same time. " The flesh does not con-
join, but dissever; although through its very
severance it suggests a shadow of the union
which it cannot bestow." !

IT will give us delight to trust the goodness
of the Universe, aye its friendliness, as if
it were a personal being. These impersonal
qualities may become real to us, as though em-
bodied in human form, and our confidence in
them increase.

1 F. \Y. IT. Myers, Human Personality, Vol. I, p. 112.

246 BOTH SIDES OF THE VEIL

NO one is great who cannot sacrifice him-
self whenever and wherever he is actu-
ally called upon to do so. Needless self-sac-
rifice is a degradation to the soul.

WE love people who are imperfect. We
love people who are less perfect than
ourselves. Let us do what we can by word
or deed or silent force to bring our loved ones
up, but let us never sink to their level if it be
below our own, however much we love them.

IN brief moments of unconsciousness or in
longer hours of absorption, time for us is
not. It appears, then, that there is no such
thing as time, but only occurrences in con-
sciousness. Yet when we recall a definite
epoch from out the dimness of the past, time
stretches out at length. Why? Because we
ourselves have walked on apace, because much
has transpired within.

TO the finely developed mind of the natu-
rally sensitive person it must be only the
thinnest of veils that separates him from the
denizens of another and higher world, for he
himself draws his breath in those elements
which apparently are the sustainers of life in
that higher world.

VARIOUS INTIMATIONS 247

WHEN I was a child I conceived of the
soul as a mass of white or pearly mist,
oval in form, located somewhere in the trunk,
of the body. Now I sometimes picture the
spiritual body as an expansion of something
far more delicate than mist; not confined to the
trunk of the body but permeating and radiating
from it; not white or pearly but aglow with
delicate and various colors, approaching to
whiteness in proportion as the Ego is pure;
with centres of thought or light scattered
through it like nuclei ; keeping in general the
bodily form yet shooting from these nuclei its
search-light rays, which pierce more deeply
into the abyss of the Unknown according as
the soul is great.

THERE is a dignity of spiritual conscious-
ness and a dignified way of living which
is not obliged to be constantly asking itself
how it shall dress, how it shall act, how it shall
talk. All these minor things fall into har-
monious relation with the superior creature
within who has accomplished this feat of
dignified living. Great dignity of character
makes one ashamed to ask how its possessor is
garbed, in fact almost blinds altogether to the
fact that he is garbed at all. Yet if we take
note of particulars it will be apparent that the
garment is becoming and fitting. Some subtle

248 BOTH SIDES OF THE VEIL

essence emanates from the cultured soul, blend-
ing the outer apparel into the harmony of the

whole.

THERE are more things in the possibili-
ties of the seeker than are dreamt of in
the philosophy of the dogmatist.

IT may do injury to those who have passed
away to wish them to keep in touch with the
sorrows of this life, but it cannot injure them
to keep in touch with its loves. Selfish grief
on our part may hold them back in their
career, but true love in this world or any other
can do naught but bless. Love loves the
lovely, and love itself, long-suffering though
it be, may at last grow cold if the object that
once attracted it be constantly bathed in grief.
I think we may judge of them as we judge of
ourselves, when we ask the question, is it
wrong to expect them to keep in touch with our
lives.

ONE who learns the art of living easily
here is becoming fitted to enter naturally
into life beyond. It is only spiritual living
that is easy. What conception can the mole
have of the glory of the sunlit heavens? Yet
the robin perches on the swaying bough, the
lark soars upward toward the blue, and the

VARIOUS INTIMATIONS 249

eagle ranges the mountain top. When we
look into the earth, blackness bars our vision.
When we look into the heavens there is no
limit to the glory, save the weakness in the
physical eye.

THE more devotedly one loves a single
person the more is his heart open to
lesser degrees of friendly relation.

IT would seem that each grade of matter
were permeable by a finer which is its life,
and that when the finer is withdrawn from the
coarser the latter dies. In relation to our
coarser bodies the air is spirit, is the breath of
life. It is not at all difficult to conceive,
analogously, of those we call dead inhabiting
a finer than fleshly form, which must in the
nature of things be invisible to our outward
sense, even as is pure air.

THE simple, devoted soul has faith; the
intelligent, knowing soul has a greater.
Trust may be the accompaniment of igno-
rance; a greater trust is the accompaniment of
wisdom.

THE newly bereaved stands mourner be-
side the open grave. The deathly still-
ness that prevails but faintly symbolizes the
deadly inaction of his heart. Man tries in

250 BOTH SIDES OF THE VEIL

myriad ways to keep before his eyes in endur-
ing bronze and marble a reminder of death.
Yet above all these silent testimonials waves
the green of the foliage and shines the blue of
the ether, both palpitating with life. Let the
mourner but look upward, and with steady
gaze the heart gradually succumbs to nature's
persuasion, and the bronze and the marble
lose their terror.

GOD speaks to us in flower and star and
sky, in love and tenderness and suffering.
The word " language " means that which can
be uttered by the tongue, but many thousand
things are communicated to us by other means.
Let us call it speaking, for lack of a more ac-
curate term. Can you hear the speech which
God utters every hour in every place? A
speech more eloquent than language, as the
speech of the eye is more eloquent than the
uttered word. God speaks through the per-
fection of human beauty in another, through
grace, through composure of soul. These are
about us every day. Let us listen for the
music of their voice.

AFTER disillusionment life becomes increas-
ingly wonderful, interesting and inviting.
Not the outer world of sense, but the inner

VARIOUS INTIMATIONS 251

meanings of things; the tremendous signifi-
cance of it all and its fathomless depths.
These are the things that now attract.

IF a deep love for one person possess our
heart, it should, while losing none of its
individual strength, be gradually sublimated
into the impersonal quality, like unto that
which exists in the bosom of the Infinite.

IT has ever been one of the mysteries of life
that we must give up in order to own, that
we must sacrifice in order to possess, that we
must die daily to ourselves in order to realize
the larger self. A kind deed by the wayside,
then, has a far deeper significance than the
mere earning of a little happiness as we pass.
It is a part of the complicated network of
relationship that binds all human beings to-
gether and bears us all onward toward the
possession of better life. It is, in the language
of a Myers, " that universal scheme by which
the higher helps the lower, and the stronger
the weaker, through all the ideal relationships
of the world of life."

WE say that the spirit is a spark from God,
but from birth onward it must be con-
stantly fanned into greater glow until its
scintillation becomes a light divine.

252 BOTH SIDES OF THE VEIL

WITH a person who is conscious of uni-
versal life, to whom the distant star and
the whole starry host seem friendly, it is
wholly contrary to what has become his
normal thought to relegate to the category of
the dead an intelligent loved or an intense
lover. The harmony of the plane on which
such a person habitually dwells would be
destroyed by non-belief.

THE mystic seeks God in every department
of life. To be a mystic is not necessarily
to be a recluse.

LET it be remembered that there are per-
sons who are finer built, more delicately
sensitive, more spiritually sublimated than are
we ourselves. And it behooves us to listen
with respect when they tell us of existence in
higher conditions and on planes of finer matter
than we ourselves know.

THE spiritual life, what is it, either here or
there? The person who strives daily to
live as much of that life as is possible to him,
the best that is revealed to his understanding,
comes in time to realize strength, vitality,
goodness, joyousness, all things satisfying in
themselves, to such degree that his questions
are all answered in himself. This new strong
unfoldment within himself, this thing that he

VARIOUS INTIMATIONS 253

perceives grows larger daily, is life itself, and
to call life death is an absurdity.

LET us invent a new term for the taking
leave of the body by the spirit. Let it
be one to which no faint touch of sadness
clings. The mystery and the loveliness in
death overshadow its sadness.

UNTIL we know what death is, we do not
know what life is; until we know what loss
is, we do not know what love is.

LOVE

Comfort our souls with love, —

Love of all human kind ;

Love special, close — in which, like sheltered dove,

Each weary heart its own safe nest may find ;

And love that turns above

Adoringly, contented to resign

All loves, if need be, for the Love Divine.

— Dinah Mulock Craik.

255

LOVE

LOVE is too lofty a theme to be broached
by any but the wisest minds, to be handled
by any but reverent hands. From the view-
point of this chapter I may but look at it from
afar, may but kiss the hem of its garment;
yet with that touch and that look know that
its effulgence is spread over me, that its virtue
passes through me.

LOVE unlocks closed portals, builds a beau-
tiful archway through the densest of
woods.

LOVE is a pain, an aching, yet sings when
all else is sad.

T

HE death of the loved one brings life to
the lover.

LOVE looks out through open windows, lays
a hand on the departing soul.

LOVE blinds because it dazzles.

OVE envelops one in a beautiful soft mist
■*— ' which sheds its whiteness on all around.
It must then be of the nature of ethereal
light.

T OVE pierces the farthest vistas, knows
*■* ' that sometime, somewhere, it may claim
its own.

257

258 BOTH SIDES OF THE VEIL

LOVE purified, intensified, floods the heart
with light and wisdom.

LOVE loses its loveliness in too many words.

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